Press release from White Horse Black Mountain:
The strum of an acoustic guitar and the roar of a racetrack may not have much in common at first consideration, but they collide in the person of NASCAR star Kyle Petty, son of legendary driver Richard Petty. Petty’s affinity for music goes back almost as far as his links to racing, and on Saturday, Jan. 12 at 8:00 p.m., the songwriter side of his personality will be at the forefront when he joins David Childers at the White Horse Black Mountain. They’ll be joined by Asheville area musician and humorist Greg Candle, creator of a semi-fictional alternate reality called Bunkum County, “Where days are sweet and time moseys on.”
Kyle Petty is a former race car driver turned racing analyst who has always carried a passion for music. A traveling preacher at the racetrack gave Petty his very first guitar at age 12. He was soon writing his own music in high school, finding creative influences in country artists such as Johnny Cash and Merle Haggard, and singer-songwriters like Carole King, James Taylor, Harry Chapin and Jim Croce.
Throughout the 80s, Petty was an opening act for various bands. Petty was signed to a record contract by RCA Records in 1986 and began work on an album with Don Light. His lone single from this period was “The Other Guy”, which led to appearances on Hee Haw and opening for acts such as Randy Travis, The Oak Ridge Boys and Hank Williams, Jr. In 1995, Petty recorded a track entitled “Oh King Richard”, a tribute to his father, written by Rodney Crowell, and was a part of a NASCAR-themed country music compilation album. A music video for the song was produced, featuring Petty playing an acoustic guitar in front of his father͛s No. 43 race car, as Richard watched highlights of his career on a screen.
When not on stage, Petty can be found on NBC Sports Network͛s daily NASCAR America show, and on pre-and post-race NASCAR Sprint Cup shows on NBC and NBCSN. Petty lives in Charlotte, NC with his wife, Morgan.
David Childers is a performer with a good ol’ boy demeanor who is simultaneously a well-read songwriter, poet and painter who cites Chaucer and Kerouac as influences. He attended UNCA at the opening of the ’70s, when, as Bob Dylan wrote, “there was music in the cafes and revolution in the air”. David made note of Dylan’s habit of taking older source material and reworking it into something poetic and vibrant, and absorbed that approach into personal songs that explore the tension between the secular and the sacred.
David had played banjo as teen and guitar since his college days, but he was a 37-year-old lawyer by the time he got serious about his songwriting. The two careers ran parallel for several years until Childers burned out from the pressures and stopped performing in 2007. He stepped back for a few months before experiencing a spiritual awakening. “I became happier and more at peace”, he says, “and now I try to set an example with my life and be decent to other people.”
Fortunately for music lovers, he started performing again in 2010, and has since recorded two albums, Glorious Day (2010) and 2013’s Next Best Thing with The Overmountain Men. He’s recently been touring in support of his newest album Run Skeleton Run, which the Americana magazine No Depression hails as “one of his most memorable and insightful records to date.”
Show starts at 8:00 p.m. Tickets are $18 advance/ $20 door. Advance tickets are available online at www.whitehorseblackmountain.com.
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