Holly WilliamsIf you go
› What: Norman Blake and Holly Williams at Music on the Mountain.› When: 6 p.m. CDT Saturday, Aug. 27.› Where: Northeast Alabama Community College’s Tom Bevill Lyceum, 138 Highway 35, Rainsville, Ala.› Admission: $15.› Phone: 256-638-4418.› Website: musiconthemountainnacc.com.
Northeast Alabama Community College will present its annual Music on the Mountain concert Saturday, Aug. 27, with Holly Williams and Norman Blake as this year's guests.
In a career that has spanned more than 60 years, Blake has played in a number of folk and country groups and is considered one of the leading figures in the bluegrass revival of the 1970s. He is best known for his work with John Hartford, Tony Rice and his wife, Nancy Blake. He has played backup for Johnny Cash, June Carter, Bob Dylan, Steve Earle, Kris Kristofferson, Ralph Stanley and Joan Baez.
In 2000, he was featured on the multiplatinum, Grammy-winning "O Brother, Where Art Thou?" soundtrack and participated in the resulting Down From the Mountain tour. He also played on the 2007 album "Raising Sand" by Robert Plant and Alison Krauss, which won five Grammy Awards.
Williams can boast a royal birthright in country music: She's the daughter of Hank Williams Jr., granddaughter of Hank Williams Sr. Critics have said that part of her success as a singer/songwriter has been that she has neither tried to live up to that famous legacy nor spent a lot of time trying to live it down.
A New York Times review concluded," She's often closer to songwriters like John Prine or Bruce Springsteen than to the smiley Nashville mainstream."
In 2013, she followed up two acclaimed albums - 2004's "The Ones We Never Knew" and 2009's "Here With Me" - with "The Highway," which American Songwriter praised as "her most accomplished, mature and world-weary album."