Songwriters in the Round: Linda and David Lay, Sandy Shortridge, and Rafe Van Hoy

Date: Thursday, October 17, 2024

Time: 7:00 p.m. EST

Location: Birthplace of Country Music Museum

Cost: $15.00 + tax/fees

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Join us for a “Songwriter in the Round” evening at the museum on Thursday, October 17, 7:00 p.m. This event is in partnership with the Crooked Road and will feature three songwriter-musician acts from the Bristol area and the surrounding region: Linda and David Lay, Sandy Shortridge, and Rafe Van Hoy. Each artist/act will perform 3-4 songs in a “round robin,” while also sharing stories about the songwriting craft, their inspirations, and career. Audience members will enjoy great music and gain an insight into the craft of songwriting.

This event is complementary programming to our current special exhibit Songwriter Musician: The Photographs of Ed Rode, on display through December 31, 2024.

Special thanks to the Crooked Road for their sponsorship of songwriters Linda and David Lay and Sandy Shortridge, and to the Massengill-DeFriece Foundation for their support of the Songwriter Musician exhibit and its complementary programming.

About Linda and David Lay

Bluegrass singer and bassist Linda Clayman Lay, better known as Linda Lay, grew up in Clayman Valley, a small community named after her family outside of Bristol, Tennessee-Virginia. She spent her early years with Janette Carter at the Carter Family Fold in Hiltons, Virginia. Linda performed with her family band before starting her own group, Appalachian Trail.

Linda met her husband, guitarist and singer David Lay, and they formed Springfield Exit together with David McLaughlin. Linda has toured the United States with the masters of the Steel String Guitar and was its featured vocalist and bassist. In addition, Linda is a master artist in traditional singing for the Virginia Foundation for the Humanities.

Together with banjo player Sammy Shelor, Linda recorded Taking the Crooked Road Home for the Virginia Folklife Program under the direction of Jon Lohman. Linda has performed with singers across several genres of music, including Vern Gosdin, Carl Jackson, Bruce Hornsby, Piedmont blues singer John Cephas, and master of the telecaster, Bill Kirchen. In the early 2000s, Linda recorded several albums for Cracker Barrel’s Heritage Series CDs.

About Sandy Shortridge

Sandy Shortridge, a guitarist and exceptional baritone singer, is from Buchanan County in the coalfields of Southwest Virginia. She began her musical career at 10 years old and is well known after performing on many area stages and beyond throughout the years. A songwriter and master storyteller, her original songs capture the cultural traditions of the region and can bring tears or a smile with equal ability. During her performances, the stories and her experiences are shared in her music in an almost magical way. No other performer in the region captures the heart, mind, and soul of the region’s people.

Shortridge has made multiple recordings, which feature her moving compositions in carefully crafted arrangements and presentation. She is also featured on a two-CD compilation recording of 50 current artists from the Crooked Road region called A Treasury of American Music, and her original songs have been recorded by numerous other artists.

Shortridge is also a radio broadcaster with her husband, Big Al Wheetley, and they can be heard on Radio Bristol’s “The Big Al & Sandy Show” on Saturdays at 1:00 p.m.

About Rafe Van Hoy

Rafe Van Hoy began his music career as a songwriter, landing his first publishing contract at 17. In the next seven years he would become one of Nashville’s new emerging songwriters with 10 number one songs and as many top 10 singles, along with nearly 200 cuts by other artists. In one three-year period, he had between 50 and 60 songs cut each year. During this early time Rafe also worked as a session musician on many hit records, and then began adding producer to his list of credits, with songwriting always as his first passion.

Rafe has been active and successful as both writer and producer over four decades with credits in several categories and genres of music, including a Grammy Nomination, 11 BMI One Million Airplay Awards, 3 BMI Two Million Airplay Awards and beyond. His songs have been recorded by George Jones and Tammy Wynette (including the classic “Golden Ring”), the Oak Ridge Boys, Michael Martin Murphy (“What’s Forever For”), John Conlee, Patti Loveless, Brooks and Dunn, Reba McEntire, Leann Rimes, Fleetwood Mac, Diana Ross, Issac Hayes, Paul Carrack, and a long list of others, including Trick Daddy (“I’m A Thug”).  His songs have been on records selling well over 150 million copies.

Rafe loves working in all styles of music and continues to stay current creating music in many formats.