Courtesy of Chris McKenney

From left: Buddy Pendleton, Larry Kirkland and Jack Hinshelwood are the core founders of the 13-member group Buddy Pendleton and Friends.

| Dan Waidelich

dan.waidelich@roanoke.com, 381-1687

CHRISTIANSBURG -- Appalachian music has a long, rich history in Southwest Virginia.

And Christiansburg is about to get a large dose of that tradition.

Christiansburg High School will host Appalachian Music Masters, a concert and forum celebrating the music of the mountains, on Saturday.

The concert will feature a 13-person ensemble of local musicians playing songs in the native style of the region.

"There is such a variety in Appalachian music," said Jack Hinshelwood, a guitarist with the Celtibillies and one of the founders of the group. "We wanted a big variety of musicians and instruments to do this."

Hinshelwood co-founded the Appalachian Music Masters group with bass player Larry Kirkland and world-renowned fiddle champion Buddy Pendleton.

The original idea was to find new material for Pendleton to record, Hinshelwood said. It quickly turned into a larger opportunity to work with other Appalachian musicians.

"Things just came together," he said. "We tried to be thoughtful about what instruments and what people would fit well."

The result was the formation of an accomplished group and the album "Buddy Pendleton and Friends: Gems from a Master Fiddler," released by Kirkland's Summer Sky Productions.

"The level of maturity in the group is great," Hinshelwood said. "Each one of us understands how to make the others sound better."

In late 2009, Montgomery-Floyd Regional Library representatives began talking with the ensemble about a live performance to benefit the libraries.

"We were very interested in the idea," said Linda Spivey, program director for the library system. "And they are a wonderful group to work with."

Spivey, Hinshelwood and other event organizers faced a daunting task in trying to find a day that all 13 musicians could perform together. In the end, the event had to be scheduled three months in advance.

A forum moderated by Kinney Rorrer, a historian of Appalachian music and host of WVTF Public Radio's "Back to the Blue Ridge," will precede the concert at 4:30 p.m.

The forum will allow the artists to discuss the formation of the group, the importance of music in the region's history and the musical experiences of the members.

A grant from the National Endowment for the Arts allowed the library to host the forum for free, and Rorrer was brought onboard thanks to his friendship with Hinshelwood, Spivey said.

Tickets to the 7:30 p.m. concert are $20 at the door, with all proceeds going to the library system.

Many of the performers play in other bands or do solo work and they will be selling CDs and books at the show, Spivey said.

As far as future shows for Buddy Pendleton and Friends go, they have found support with the Montgomery-Floyd Regional Library.

"It would be interesting to hold an event like this again," Spivey said.

"But now we know it might take months and months."