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Keysville Musician Named Champion

   Written by on October 30, 2014 at 1:10 pm

Some days are just better than others. It’s a plain fact. Something will happen sometime during the course of the day, and the rest of the day just seems to fall in your favor. That happened to me last week.

IMG_0008I had the pleasure of meeting Ronnie Burroughs last week. Ronnie lives here in Keysville. He is an upbeat, happy guy with a big smile and a kind word for you when you meet. He is also this year’s winner of the Galax Fiddler’s Convention 1st place Autoharp player. To say that is an accomplishment is an understatement of epic proportions. The Galax Fiddler’s Convention is the oldest and largest bluegrass convention in the world.

For those that don’t know, an autoharp is an old, stringed, bluegrass instrument. You play it up close to your chest, and it has a very unique sound. Ronnie told me that his grandmother taught him to play, and that he has been at it for 33 years now. During that time he has been to the Galax Fiddler’s Convention five times to compete against the best bluegrass players there are. Going to Galax is like going to the Bluegrass Olympics. In 2013 he was 1st runner up at the Union Grove Fiddler’s Convention. This year, though, Ronnie Burroughs won first place autoharp at Galax.

Ronnie’s wife, Peggy, gave him his first autoharp for Christmas. “We’ve been married 41 years,” he said with a big smile.

It was just my luck that Ronnie had his autoharp with him that day. It was a beautiful thing, full of strings, and made with old wood that came out of a barn right down the road in Lunenburg County. His long-time friend, Billy Newcomb, made the instrument. Ronnie explained, “Billy asked me if I wanted anything special done to it, and I told him I wanted the sound hole, like in a guitar, to be in the shape of the state of Virginia.” He held it out for me to see, “I’ve got the only one like it.” While we were talking, he had settled down into a chair, and I had, too. During a lull in the conversation he said, “I’m gonna play you a little Grandfather’s Clock,” and he started to strum. I just sat back and listened.

Yeah, I’m convinced, some days are just better than others…

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