Jeanette Williams, lead vocalist and bass player, began her career performing at recreations of the Grand Ole Opry in 1989. She has been the recipient of a number of awards including being named the Virginia Folk Music Association’s State Champion Female Vocalist, PICABO Entertainer of the Year (4 times), and PICABO Female Vocalist (4 times). She has garnered no less than 6 nominations for SPBGMA Female Vocalist of the Year and is a graduate of IBMA Leadership Bluegrass.

Jeanette has been featured in Bluegrass Unlimited, Bluegrass Now, and many other magazines and publications. She has recorded over a dozen projects, including the critically acclaimed Doobie Shea Records release, Cherry Blossoms in the Springtime, which spent nine months on the Bluegrass Unlimited National Survey Album Chart. She is featured on Daughters of Bluegrass Back to the Well - a release that earned the IBMA Recorded Event of the Year Award in 2006.

The title track of Jeanette’s latest release by Blue Circle Records, Thank you for Caring, is a duet with country music legend George Jones. Written by Dixie and Tom T. Hall, the song tells the true story of a little girl Miss Dixie met while gathering items for the relief effort in the aftermath of hurricane Katrina. Though the girl’s family had few material possessions, she unselfishly donated her own furniture and tenderly commented – “Thank you for caring.” A portion of the proceeds from album sales will be donated to the American Red Cross for continuing disaster relief. The new CD also features Jeanette’s award-winning Enough of You – recipient of the Chris Austin Songwriting Contest (bluegrass division) at MerleFest in 2007. For more information on Jeanette and her group, go to www.JeanetteWilliams.com.

Doyle Lawson has been playing and singing since he was a boy of 11. He grew up hearing his family sing in church groups. Doyle learned to play on a mandolin his father borrowed from one of the members of his church quartet.

When he was 14 years old, Doyle met Jimmy Martin and decided he wanted to play music for a living. In addition to the mandolin, he learned to play banjo and guitar. He worked with Jimmy Martin, J.D. Crowe, and the Country Gentlemen.

After ten years of playing with others, Doyle decided he needed a sound of his own. In 1979, he formed his first group – Doyle Lawson & Foxfire. That group quickly became Doyle Lawson & Quicksilver. He patterned the group after his father’s church quartets. Although he’s seen many band members come and go over the course of 27 years, the group’s sound has remained virtually unchanged. While he’s recorded some secular music as well as gospel, his gospel releases far outnumber other releases. Doyle says it’s obvious his gospel music is what his audiences come to hear. He considers his music a “musical mission.” His group Quicksilver has won numerous awards, and Doyle has released nearly 40 albums and CDs. For more information on Quicksilver, go to www.DoyleLawson.com.

For some of the best bluegrass gospel music this side of Heaven, don’t miss the Jeanette Williams Band with Doyle Lawson & Quicksilver at the Carter Family Fold. This special Springtime Gospel Celebration is the second of what we hope will be an annual concert for Doyle Lawson & Quicksilver. Come celebrate with us the arrival of spring and the many blessings we receive daily.

Carter Family Memorial Music Center, Incorporated, is a nonprofit, rural arts organization established to preserve traditional, acoustic, mountain music. For further information on the center, go to www.CarterFamilyFold.org. Shows from the Carter Family Fold can be accessed on the internet at www.CarterFoldShow.com. Carter Music Center is part of the Crooked Road: Virginia’s Heritage Music Trail. You can visit the Crooked Road Music Trail site at TheCrookedRoad.org. Partial funding for programs at the center is provided by the Virginia Commission for the Arts and the National Endowment for the Arts. For more information on Saturday’s concert, contact the Mountain Music Museum at 276-645-0035. For recorded information on shows coming up at the Fold, call 276-386-6054.

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