Blowing Rock Night Concert Series returns June 15
 

Blowing Rock’s Monday Night Concert Series has announced the dates for this summer’s concerts. 
 

The first of five shows will take place on June 15, beginning the 10th year of performances in the Broyhill Park by Amy Marie Productions. Other show dates include June 29, July 13, July 27 and Aug. 10.
 

Concerts are variety based and have created quite a following over the last 10 years.  Early in its creation, the show was called “Farm House Live,” based off of the famous restaurant that used to reside in Blowing Rock that hired young college musicians to perform and wait tables. Many of the performers in the park concerts were former Farm House alumni, allowing for audiences to rekindle the memories of their favorite musical restaurant. Now, the concerts provide young up and coming musicians an opportunity to perform alongside seasoned talent. Jazz, musical theatre, country, popular opera and Top 40 standards are all featured in these eclectic concerts.

The featured performer for the June 15 show is John T. Woodall (www.johntwoodall.com). Making his debut performance in the park will be Craig Brown, a voice major at Appalachian State University, and on piano will be Barter Theatre musical director Steve Sensenig (www.worshipkeys.com). The show’s director, Amy Marie Young will also be performing.
 

John T. Woodall was born and raised in Garner, just outside of Raleigh. He was awarded many accolades while at Appalachian State University. One of the highlights was winning first place at the NATS (National Association of Teachers of Singing) competition his senior year in the entire South East Region of the United States in both classical and musical theater divisions. Late in Woodall’s college career, he picked up the guitar and found quickly another love and another outlet. At this point is when he truly began his journey as a songwriter. John left the mountains of Boone to seek out success in the concrete mountains of New York City.
 

Woodall said, “New York is where I truly found myself as a human being and as an artist.”
 

He attended the New York School for Film and Television and tried his hand at acting for a while doing bit parts in independent films and blockbusters as well, such as A Beautiful Mind, Glitter and several others. As much as Woodall loves acting and the big screen, his true inspiration comes from music and songwriting. He started working on the craft of writing while in New York and tried out his music on the college crowd down in the village and around the NYU circuit. He played clubs like CBGB’s, The Bitter End, The Elbow Room, The Back Fence, Dillon’s, Laurie Beechman Theater, and even the famous Saturday Night at the Apollo in Harlem.
After several years with great friends and the city that never sleeps, Woodall decided to move to Nashville and try to learn from the writers there. He played many great venues there like The Gibson Showcase Room and the Bluebird Cafe’. He also studied the other writers who would play these venues and see how they crafted songs. It was in Nashville that John dedicated more time to the guitar and began working on licks that would soon become his signature. Influenced by so many artists, Woodall has a style that is a mix of many of them and yet is a style all his own. There is a mixture of blues and jazz in his guitar and nothing but soul in his voice. His songs are driven by melody and lyric and he puts himself out there in a way that is uniquely his own but in a way that is relative to the masses.
 

Woodall currently resides in the mountains of Tennessee and books gigs all over the country. Both he and Amy Marie worked at the Farm House the last summer of operation in 1997.
 

Concerts take place in the Broyhill Park off of Clark Street in Blowing Rock at 7 p.m.  People are encouraged to bring blankets or chairs for their comfort. Inclement rain location is the American Legion Building off of Park Avenue. For more information, call (828) 295-5222 or visit www.amymarieproductions.com.

LODGING