Photo Courtesy of Artist
Old-Time Music
Meadows of Dan, VA
The Shelors: Dayne and Cassidy Shelor are part of a musical legacy in Meadows of Dan, VA., that began in the 1920’s when Dayne’s great-grandparents, Jesse and Clarice, along with Clarice’s father, Joe Blackard, were recorded for the legendary “Bristol Sessions” by engineer Ralph Peer, as “Dad Blackard’s Moonshiners.” Since then, the Shelor family has carried the torch of Virginia’s mountain music, and Dayne and Cassidy are the newest torch bearers.
Dayne grew up in the Piedmont of NC, making regular trips to see his family in Stuart and Meadows of Dan, VA. where he quickly fell in love with Mountain Music. He grew up playing guitar with his grandfather and dad, and picked up the fiddle and bass when he went to Appalachian State University. After honing his carpentry skills in Wilmington and Asheville, NC, Dayne renovated his great-grandparents' house in Meadows of Dan and set down new roots there with his wife, Cassidy, where they continue the family legacy of homemade mountain music.
Cassidy spent most of her formative years in Jackson County, NC and other parts of Western NC. As a young, classically-trained, violin player she, too, felt the pull of old-time music when she was a student in the Junior Appalachian Musicians program in Bryson City, NC. Then, as a student at Appalachian State University, she attended a weekly old-time jam at the Jones House, where she met Dayne. Appalachian fiddle music quickly became an important ingredient in the young couple’s lives; including going to fiddler's conventions, learning regional tunes and building community with other musicians. These days, in Meadows of Dan, she helps run their family construction company, grows and preserves food, and teaches and plays fiddle.