By Liz Beavers
lbeavers@newstribune.info
managing editor
KEYSER — The first Warm the Children Bluegrass Festival scheduled for Saturday, Nov. 14, promises to be memorable for two reasons.
First, it is the first bluegrass festival to be launched as a fund raiser for the Warm the Children campaign, the
Mineral Daily News-Tribune's locally-based charity designed to provide warm winter clothing for area needy children.
Second, it will mark the reunion of two brothers who made quite a name for themselves in the regional bluegrass world.
Gene & Joe and the Valley Troubadours will be one of three bluegrass bands which will fill the air of the Keyser High School theater that night with foot-stompin' bluegrass.
Founded by brothers Charles “Gene” and Joe Winebrenner, the Valley Troubadours got its start almost 50 years ago.
“It all began one summer day in 1963 at Seneca Park at the Mouth of Seneca, W.Va.,” Joe recalls.
“Don Reno and Red Smiley and the Town Cutups were the headliners and along with that was a talent contest.
“Gene & Joe and the Valley Troubadours won the contest and we were invited by Don Reno and Red Smiley to come to the tv station, WSVA of Harrisonburg, Va., where they ran a live show every week called 'The Big Valley Barn Dance,'” Joe said.
“We became part of that for the next year or so, and appeared once or twice a month.”
The rest, as they say, is history.
“Because of that show, we were introduced to folks in the music world who would later become legends in bluegrass,” Joe said.
They met an agent known as Charlton Honey, and he was successful in booking the young group in places like the New Dominion Barn Dance in Richmond, Va., and Sunset Park in West Grove, Pa.
“He gave us guest spots on festivals in Roanoke, Berryville, and other places, and we met people like the Osborn Brothers, Jim & Jessie, the Country Gentlemen, and the Stanley Brothers,” he said.
One of his most memorable moments, Joe says, came as a total surprise.
“Charlton once said, 'come with me, I want you to meet someone,' and we went behind one of the concession stands where some pickers were gathered, and Bill Monroe was sitting there!” he said.
Over the subsequent years, Gene & Joe continued to make a name for themselves, playing at various venues throughout the area and becoming regulars on several radio stations, eventually doing radio shows on WELD in Fisher, W.Va., WFRB in Frostburg, WBFD in Bedford, Pa., and WKYR in Keyser.
Brother Gene notes, however, that he and Joe “never intended to make a living at playing music ...we just did it for the love of the music.”
“I think we were afraid we'd fail and our kids would starve to death,” Joe jokes.
One of Gene's main inspirations, he says, was an uncle, Troy Orr, who was also a pastor.
That influence would especially affect him later when he decided to go into the ministry himself.
It was at that time that Gene and Joe went in different directions - “we didn't break up!” they emphasize. Joe continued in the bluegrass field with Highland Grass, while Gene went into the ministry.
“I've gone on 11 missionary trips to the Ukraine, Russia and Romania, planting churches, ” he said. “We've planted 98 churches in the Ukraine along.”
He also ministers to nursing homes and other facilities here at home, traveling as part of the Winebrenner Gospel Singers.
Both he and Joe have cut CDs with their respective groups.
The idea to reunite came out of an out-of-town appearance during which Joe was approached to do a benefit. The location was a distance away, however, and Joe decided he'd rather help out a needy group closer to home.
That's when he was approached by a representative of Warm the Children and he signed on with Highland Grass.
“The very next week, somebody said, 'why don't you and Gene get back together?'”
And once again, the rest is ... about to be history.
The Warm the Children Bluegrass Concert will also feature performances by Highland Grass and Black Diamond, and will get underway at 7 p.m. in the theater at Keyser High.
Tickets will be available at the door.
Refreshments and raffle tickets will be available for sale, with all proceeds to benefit Warm the Children.
Keyser, W.Va. —
