Courtesy of Junior Sisk

Sisk and Ramblers Choice will play a fundraiser in April for the Ferrum Volunteer Fire Department.

Franklin County's own Junior Sisk is having himself a time in the bluegrass world.

Sisk and his band, Ramblers Choice, have a popular and award-nominated record, "Blue Side of the Blue Ridge" (Rebel Records). Sisk, of Ferrum, is ranked among the top vocalists in his genre, and the act plays a steady stream of dates throughout the United States and Canada.

But a few years back, when Sisk was still struggling to make it, he and his wife were patients at the Free Clinic of Franklin County.

On Saturday, he plans to give back a little. Junior Sisk and Ramblers Choice will headline the Franklin County Free Clinic Health and Safety Expo and Fiddle Fest at Franklin County High School. The fundraiser is part of the clinic's 17th anniversary celebration.

After the big crash

In 2001, Sisk and his wife, Susan, were driving from her father's house in Gaffney, S.C., to a bluegrass show in Georgia.

On a rain-slicked Interstate 85, a tractor-trailer in front of them hit a construction barrier, stopping traffic. Sisk's vehicle was stopped when another 18-wheeler crashed into it from behind, pushing it underneath yet another big truck.

Junior Sisk wasn't seriously hurt, though he did have severe bruising from his seat belt. Sisk credits the seat belt with saving his life. Susan Sisk, though, nearly lost a foot, and it took several surgeries to repair it. She was unable to work and lost her insurance. Low on cash, the couple began visiting the free clinic.

Junior Sisk, who turned 45 last week, said he is grateful for what the clinic did for his family.

"Times were tough, and we went there," he said. "After I couldn't get back there, I really missed them all. They were all just wonderful folks out there. I loved the doctors and all the staff and everybody out there. They always treated us really good. Just a cold or anything, we could go out there, and just a great staff."

When the clinic called about the fundraiser, he said, "I didn't hesitate about doing it."

He feels the same way about other local institutions. Sisk said he'll be playing a fundraiser in April for the Ferrum Volunteer Fire Department.

He explained it this way to his band members: "If your hometown needs anything, you want to help."

On the rise

Susan Sisk is walking and doing fine these days and is down to 10 percent disability. And her husband has become one of bluegrass music's most highly regarded tenors.

That's a crowded field, too, but Sisk can hang. He was nominated for best male vocalist at this year's International Bluegrass Music Association Awards. The other nominees were Dan Tyminski, Jamie Dailey, Russell Moore and Danny Paisley. Tyminski won.

The act received other nominations from the association. "Blue Side of the Blue Ridge" -- produced by onetime Franklin County cat Ronnie Bowman -- was up for best album. The single "Leaving Baker County," co-written by Nashville, Tenn., legend Tom T. Hall, got a best song nomination. Ramblers Choice was on the list for the emerging artist award.

"We didn't win anything, but we got to play the Ryman [Auditorium, in Nashville], so I consider that a win," Sisk said.

And he left with a lot of confidence.

Backstage, he told his old friend Tyminski, "As Arnold Schwarzenegger said, 'I'll be back.'

"He looked at me and said, 'I know you will,' " Sisk recalled.

Sisk and his band are doing it by staying close to their traditional bluegrass roots. Sisk, who still counts Carter Stanley as his favorite singer, wants to keep the old style alive. Apparently, people want to hear him do it, too. "Blue Side of the Blue Ridge" topped the Bluegrass Unlimited chart earlier this year.

It's a good time for Sisk, despite his joke that if he stays in bluegrass another few years, he'll qualify to return to the free clinic. He did about 100 shows this year and plans to do at least that many in 2010. He already has about half of them booked.

"Actually getting promoters to start calling me now," he said, laughing, "and I'm not having to worry the dickens out of them."