Artists

On October 8, 1999, a truly remarkable event occurred on the campus of Emory & Henry College, located in the Appalachian mountains of Southwestern Virginia. Twelve graduates of the college came together to perform the folk music they had learned and performed while they attended the school, during the golden years of the folk revival, between 1961 and 1974.

Most of them knew or knew of the others, but had not seen each other for decades. But in one way or another, each had kept in touch with the music that reunited them. In the true spirit of folk, they supported each other through an afternoon rehearsal and an evening performance. Almost no one performed alone. One player might have a banjo-playing friend join in on one song and a bass player and another guitarist on another. They helped each other with chord changes and words to forgotten verses. They opened the show together and closed the show together. And they gave the alumni and current students two and a half hours of magic. The current students heard songs they had never heard before, or songs they only knew through their parents or grandparents. The alumni were transported back to their days on campus through the music they had known 30 years earlier.

They performed in the college's old gymnasium, the scene of so many musical events during those years. They stood on the same spot in the room where Pete Seeger had performed in 1968. They played everything from 'old-time' music (that some call Bluegrass) to songs by John Lennon and Rod Stewart. There weren't enough chairs to accommodate the audience, so some stood, some sat on the floor, and some perched on the floor of the indoor track that surrounds the room at a higher level.

Captured on this recording is the result of that remarkable experience: Twenty-one songs by the best writers of the era, played by people who came from all over the nation to take part in the concert. This was a once-in-a-lifetime event, and a fitting way to celebrate the final homecoming of the 20th century. One attending alumni summed it all up after the show as he spoke to one of the performers; he said, 'Thank you for the memory of a lifetime!'

May each of you have such memories to share and enjoy!

This contemporary collection of folk songs displays its roots in classic folk, R&B and vintage rock, but its acoustic instrumentation puts it squarely in the folk genre.

Wayne offers nine new originals in this collection, along with covers written by Nanci Griffith, Noel Paul Stookey and Holland/Dozier/Holland. His easy, upbeat style is backed with great players like Peter Ostroushko, Clint Hoover, Matthew Fox, Vicky Emerson, Joe Juliano and a host of others. If you enjoy acoustic bands and songs that make you smile, you'll like THE PRESENT. So gift yourself with these songs - you deserve it!