MORGANTOWN – No foolin’.
Students in West Virginia University’s Bluegrass and Old-Time Bands will get the chance to jam with a Grammy winning musician in those genres – who also happens to be a native son of the Mountain State – come April 1.
That evening, WVU’s School of Music will host “An Evening with Tim O’Brien” at the Gladys G. Davis Theatre in the Canady Creative Arts Center.
Showtime is 7:30 p.m., but before that, O’Brien will work the above musicians in teaching groups, before asking them to join him on stage for the concert.
Tickets are $35 and may be purchased online at go.wvu.edu/ccam-tickets or by calling 304-293-SHOW.
You can also buy in person at the box office in the CAC from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday.
In the bluegrass and Americana worlds, O’Brien has been a hot ticket since 1978.
That’s when the Wheeling native moved to Colorado at the age of 18 to play guitar, fiddle, mandolin and banjo in the nationally touring band Hot Rize – one of the many progressive “newgrass” bands of the day that blended rock ‘n’ roll and jazz flourishes into its traditional stylings.
He grew up a kid folk-music obsessed in the Northern Panhandle town, with the Beatles and British invasion tossing a few sonic switchbacks his way.
When he caught a performance of Doc Watson, the celebrated guitar flatpicking wizard on TV, however, there was no going back.
“I heard Doc and I liked what I heard,” he told the trade publication, The Bluegrass Standard, two years ago.
His fellow performers in the industry, meanwhile, have liked what they’ve been hearing from him ever since – with the International Bluegrass Music Association recognizing him over the years for his picking and performing prowess.
In addition to his own recordings, O’Brien also does a lot of session work. His songs have been covered by artists from Kathy Mattea to Nickel Creek to Garth Brooks.
He has collaborated and toured with Billy Strings, Mark Knopfler, Sturgill Simpson and others on stages from the Atlantic to the Pacific.
“Yeah, I keep telling our kids what a big deal this is,” chuckled Chris Haddox, the WVU professor of sustainable design and picker who directs the bluegrass and old-time ensembles through the School of Music.
Before the show April 1, O’Brien will spend a lot of that day working with both groups, who are also expected to join him on the stage and CAC.
“This is a master class, the way I see it,” Haddox said.
“And Tim has been great. We’ve been doing a lot of email. He’s got a lot of ideas.”
Haddox, who is also a songwriter and who plays multiple instruments, has been enjoying an earful of success on charts here and there – the national success of his self-titled album in 2021.
Two years ago, the state of Oklahoma borrowed one of the Western swing-tunes from that collection – “Nothing Says It’s Spring Like the Redbud” – for a tourism campaign.
The redbud is the state tree there.
“Well, that was a kick,” said Haddox, who is now working on a second album.
