Award-winning songwriter and guitarist John Lilly and longtime singing partner Lorie Lichtenwalner will appear together at The Spring, 204 North Jefferson Street, Lewisburg, on Saturday, Mar. 15, beginning at 8 p.m. Admission is $8. For more information, call 304-645-7200 or visit www.thespringwv.org. This will be the duo’s first Lewisburg appearance.
John Lilly is an internationally acclaimed acoustic artist from Charleston, West Virginia, known for his unique blend of original roots music, traditional folk, and classic country sounds. According to the Durham, NC, Independent Weekly, “If Hank Williams had a sunny disposition, he’d be John Lilly.”
Lorie Lichtenwalner, of Staunton, was a long-time member of the popular Shenandoah Valley bluegrass band Troublesome Creek, with whom she played bass and sang for more than five years.
The pair met in the early 1980s and performed as a duo throughout central Virginia. They have recently reunited. Lilly and Lichtenwalner present country and folk music duets in the classic style of the Everly Brothers or Robin & Linda Williams. While they have a deep repertoire of vintage country music material, the duo concentrates on presenting original material from the pen of John Lilly, winner of numerous songwriting awards.
Lilly was the first-place winner in the 2010 Next Great Road Song competition, sponsored by Midas and Spin! placing first in the Acoustic category for his original song “Come and Go” and winning $5,000. In 2005, he was the grand champion of the international Ghost Writers in the Sky Songwriting Contest for songs in the style of Hank Williams, winning a customized guitar with his song “Blue Highway.”
His songs have been recorded by Bobby Helms, Wild Rose, Pam Gadd, Patty Mitchell, Luke Shamblin and others. He has performed on Public Radio International’s “Mountain Stage,” at the Philadelphia Folk Festival, the Ozark Folk Center, and the Thomas Fraser Memorial Festival in Shetland. He has toured Scotland three times.