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L

ike a song with multiple harmonies, Oriental’s first Ol’ Front Porch Music Fesitval came together Saturday afternoon in a magical way. For four hours, roots music drifted out from a dozen porches on Broad and Hodges Street.

It went over so well that a date has been set for the next one.

The sign that used to hang over the porch of the Ol’ Store a block away was on display Saturday at the Old Central Hotel during the Ol’ Front Porch Music Festival.

The festival took its inspiration from the Ol’ Store owned by the late Billy and Lucille Truitt, on whose porch musicians would gather and jam. Organizers Dottie Osmun and Leslie Kellenberger updated the idea by putting multiple bands on multiple porches. They and a team of volunteers pulled it all together in a month and a half. On Saturday, it worked.

Ernest Dunn, Ken Belangia, Jim Baluss and Becky Ackiss played together as Green Creek Bluegrass in the 1980’s on the porch of the Ol’ Store owned by Ken and Ernest’s in-laws, Billy and Lucille Truitt. The had not played together since Lucille’s funeral a decade ago, but Saturday they were back, playing on the porch of the Old Central Hotel at Hodges and Broad. Afterward, Becky Ackiss could say only say, and gesture, that it was “all heart.”

Folks bebopped from one porch/stage to another to take it all in. The food sold out, as more spectators than expected came by. A band that hadn’t played together in years got back and right in to the groove. An octogenarian sang – ever so coyly – about a cross-dresser. One porch first had ukulele players then a Chinese erhu. A brass band spilled tunes on to Hodges Street near the harbor.

The New Sensational Messengers a gospel band from New Bern played on the porch of Ken Pitts’ home on Hodges Street. The Messengers were: Charles McDaniels, Donald Brimmage, Gene Waters, Bruce Jones, Thomas Green and, not pictured, Wayne Taylor.

Ed Terry, on the front porch of Down East Canvas and Gallery.

The skies held off until the very end and even then, a throng of people clapped on the sidewalks of both sides of Hodges as a gospel band from New Bern delivered the last scheduled performance of the day, while at the other end of Hodges, musicians jammed for an hour more.

The Ol’ Front Porch Music Fest organizers have set October 17, 2015 for the next one. That would give them 13 months rather than 6 weeks to plan it.

In the meantime, more photos from the day.

Harbor Sounds on the porch of Oriental’s Town Hall. From left, Asa Gatlin, Dixie Gatlin Paul Sykes, Dick Osmun. (Woody Fuller on harmonica, not pictured here.) Members of this band had wanted for years to have a bluegrass festival in Oriental. The Ol’ Fornt Porch Music Festival emerged from that idea.

Music to be heard, and seen. Harbor Sounds at Town Hall.

Clara Sommers of Phoenix after singing about a cross-dresser. The octogenarian had dropped in to her daughter, Sandra Baldree’s sing-along session on the Hardy’s porch. Her song selection drew a crowd.

Musicians performing at the First Ol’ Front Porch Music Festival were: Harbor Sounds, The Moseley Family, Salty Paws, UHOOs, Simon Spaulding, Mac McWilliams, The Del Rios, Green Creek Bluegrass, The New Sensational Messengers, Travelin’ Jones, Bob Jones, Bob Laverty, The Craven Brass.

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Posted Tuesday September 16, 2014 by Melinda Penkava