She contacted Cathy Fink, one of the instructors for the retreat, who in turn reached out to Surry Arts Council Executive Director Tanya Jones. “I knew we had those who played here, so I thought we should have one.”Ĭhecking into the logistics, Crawford said she quickly figured out the expense was beyond her means. While Smith might be a well-known musician, even the face of the local ukulele movement, he credits another area resident, Jody Crawford, for the retreat.Ĭrawford said a few years ago she and a friend attended a ukulele festival in Richmond, Virginia, which got her to thinking about doing the same in Mount Airy. He was joined by two-time Grammy Award winning musicians Cathy Fink and Marcy Marxer, along with Kent Knorr from the North Carolina Ukulele Academy in Wilmington, as instructors for the three-day gathering. Smith, who also oversees The Granite City Rock Orchestra and teaches at Old Mill Music, was one of several musicians overseeing this weekend’s event, running workshops, teaching specific techniques to ukulele players of all skill levels. In this community, known far and wide for the sometimes mournful, often melancholy sound of bluegrass and old-time music which originated here, 100 musicians spent the weekend playing the whimsical, cheerful ukulele. The first, and planned to be annual, Mount Airy Ukulele Retreat, sponsored by the Surry Arts Council. “One of them said ‘where have you been? I thought I was going to have to start a group to find anyone else.’”īoth Hill and Frisbee made their comments in town this weekend for a Ukulele convention. Ten people turned up for the first meeting. She recently started a ukulele group in her town, hoping to find if there were any other players nearby.
Mary Hill, from Saint Pauls, near Fayetteville, said her experience has been similar. It was supposed to meet every month, now they want to start meeting weekly.” “I hoped we’d have five or six,” he said. He’s a ukulele player who helped start a group in his town in August. Seventeen people showed up.”Īs Smith was talking Saturday, Bob Frisbee, from Marion, said his experience has been the same. “When we made the announcement (that the group was forming), I was hopeful six people would come. There were quite a few folks on hand to witness that irony, too. “Some instant irony,” he said with a grin. “The first song we did was ‘We Don’t Need No Education,” by Pink Floyd. Still, his wife was persistent, so he went along, buying his first ukulele in 2013, the day he announced the group would hold its first get-together - giving himself just six short weeks to learn the instrument. Smith, an accomplished musician who counts the guitar, mandolin, and banjo among the instruments he can play, had never touched a ukulele. “She wanted someone she and her friend, Grace, could play with,” he said. “We started MAUI in 2013,” Smith said, explaining the impetus behind forming the group was really his wife, Gin. “It’s coming back to life, it’s getting more popular. “It’s fascinating,” said George Smith, director of the musical group MAUI, an acronym which stands for Mount Airy Ukulele Invasion. They really do seem to be everywhere, coming out of the veritable woodwork when given the chance. Until they pull it out, the one tool, the instrument, that shows them for what they really are - ukulele players.Īnd if that seems to be a bit of an overly dramatic way to describe them, think again. There’s almost no way to identify them, at least initially. They could be your neighbor, a coworker, maybe the person you walk by at the grocery store, the couple you see jogging at the park. People who are perhaps a little different than they appear. There seems to be a movement of some sort afoot.