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Among the artists performing that day are Knoxville stars and co-chairs of the music committee, Nancy Brennan-Strange (with her acoustic swing outfit, the Tennessee Sheiks: Don Cassell, Don Wood, Morgan Simmons and Allen Smith) and Maggie “the Lily of LaFollette� Longmire with her band, the Free Soil Farm (Jay Manneschmidt, Chris MacMahon, Jay Miller with Danny Gammon sitting in on fiddle).

Longmire noted that the “for real� Free Soil Farm her band is named after was in the Cove Lake/Caryville area.

Sparky Rucker, who was friends with Armstrong (who died four years ago at age 94), will bring his own archive of slide guitar and country blues to the stage when he and wife and music partner, Rhonda, perform. Legendary folk-singers and activists Guy and Candie Carawan also are slated to play.

Hokum’s Heroes, a collective of Boston-based musicians who actually specialize in the music of Howard Armstrong and other vintage and jug band styles can be sampled at their MySpace web site.

Charlie Collins, the son of a Campbell County coal miner, and his partner, Mike Webb, will play authentic mountain music on numerous stringed instruments. Former LaFollette resident, Larry McNeely, played with Collins in the Pinnacle Mountain Boys. The guitarist-banjoist was in Roy Acuff’s Smoky Mountain Boys in the ‘60s and then played with Glen Campbell in California. He is now based in Nashville.

Brennan-Strange said park ranger Bobby Fulcher, a music historian-folklorist, had a presentation about the LaFollette fiddling contest.

Perhaps because of Armstrong’s guiding spirit, a special effort is going into getting the area’s black folks involved in the festival. “We have the Cove Lake Pavilion and surrounding grounds reserved for June 8 as well and have begun to schedule special activities for that date. One will be the 'Homecoming and Reunion' for 200-plus members of the black community who lived in the LaFollette area during the 1940s, ‘50s and ‘60s. A very special part of the event will be storytelling, to be located in the Pavilion. We want to videotape oral histories of our region. We especially want to afford this opportunity to the black community who sincerely wish to have their history known to others for they made wide ranging contributions to the whole community.�

The Knoxville singer said she, the Ruckers and an artist named John Lamaire have been teaching Campbell schoolkids about Armstrong and his music and art this year. “I met about 1,500 of them playing in the middle schools a few weeks ago. I'm hoping some of these kids are gonna show up at the festival to sing and play one of Howard's tunes "The Barnyard Dance" - I invited all of them!

Mathews said the CCC’s goals are to enrich not only the cultural life of the region, but stimulate its economic future.

The group’s Youth Art and Music program, which is what Brennan-Strange and her colleagues were participating in, is one of the ways it seeks to carry out part of its mission. “This program is designed to bring art, music and storytelling to youths 10 to 13 years of age in underserved rural communities in Campbell County,� Mathews said. The inspiration for the project is none other than Howard Armstrong. Armstrong was nothing less than a Renaissance man. “Mr. Armstrong represents a positive cross-section of our region. He spoke seven languages fluently, mastered 22 instruments, and became an accomplished painter whose works are sought by art collectors.�

The participating artists were selected to represent a span of disciplines: visual arts, music and storytelling. Lamaire focused on Armstrong’s artwork and taught basic portrait sketching. Brennan-Strange performed songs associated with Armstrong, after which the schoolkids were encouraged to learn to sing or play an instrument. Rucker told stories about Armstrong’s life, including discussing how Armstrong used storytelling himself. The students were then asked to research and write their own interpretations of Armstrong’s life.

For more information about the group, go to: campbellculturecoalition.org or louiebluie.org

Read about The Carpetbag Theatre's production of Between A Ballad & A Blues, the story of Howard "Louie Bluie" Armstrong, here!