Leonard Hollifield, a staple of the music scene in Western North Carolina for more than 70 years, will appear in concert Saturday, January 14, at 7:30 p.m., at the Madison County Arts Center in downtown Marshall. Known most recently as a member of the Stoney Creek Boys, the venerable house band of Shindig on the Green and the Mountain Dance and Folk Festival, Leonard has influenced generations of musicians here and across the nation.

A Buncombe County native, his career as a guitarist began around the age of ten when his father arranged for guitar lessons. The lessons, it turns out, were not for him but rather for his older brother. Still, Leonard absorbed what he overheard of his brother’s lessons, and other musicians in the community also showed him what they knew. Seventy years later, Leonard Hollifield is one of Western North Carolina’s most respected guitarists

From about the age of twelve, he was playing for square dances and parties, at schoolhouses, and on the radio, with a variety of local bands. At 14, he played on a regular radio show. He and his younger brother also performed on a circuit of dances in the area. “No one traveled very far,” he says, because in those days the roads were rough and transportation unreliable.

He played with a gospel group called the Herron Valley Boys, named for the area in Buncombe County where he grew up, and with the Pine Ridge Boys, based in Georgia. Twice he did multiyear stints playing for the Kingsmen, the legendary Southern gospel quartet from the North Carolina mountains.

Asked why his native Buncombe County has been home to so many great musicians, Leonard answers, “I think these mountains work a spell on you.”

“We are thrilled to feature Leonard for this show,” says Laura Boosinger, executive director of the Madison County Arts Council. “The time has come to place Leonard at the center mic and show him our appreciation.” Also featured during the evening will be Josh Goforth and several other special guests.

Tickets are $15 and available through the Madison County Arts Council online at madisoncountyarts.com and by calling 828.649.1301.