Old-time music, big-time legacy

By Brenda Neugent

Published: May 15, 2008

For Wayne Henderson, being the best musician involves more than just mastering the art of playing.
The world-class player also crafts world-class instruments, and the waiting list for one of his guitars is a long one.
But Henderson, according to those who have been on the list for one of his painstakingly crafted guitars, is worth the wait, despite his free-spirited attitude about his creations.
“You just get a pile of good wood, and you get yourself a sharp whittling knife,” Henderson told Popular Mechanics in a 2005 interview, “and then you carve away anything that doesn’t look like a guitar.”
While the waiting list for one of Henderson’s instruments may be lengthy, fans of old-time music won’t have to wait to hear one played — the Rugby, Va., bluegrass musician will share some of the music that has made him a legend this weekend in an outdoor concert at the Danville Museum of Fine Arts and History.
Hopefully, he’ll play one of his own guitars.
The Rugby, Va., musician’s instruments are owned by rocker Eric Clapton — it took the meticulous Henderson 10 years to get it done, and the process was documented in the book “Clapton’s Guitar: Watching Wayne Henderson Build the Perfect Instrument” — and fellow picker and neighbor, music legend Doc Watson, who said, “That Henderson mandolin is as good as any I’ve had my hands on. And that’s saying a lot, because I’ve picked up some good ones.”
Henderson makes about 20 instruments a year, and still has his first, crafted from an old cigar box of his grandmother’s.
He takes as much care with his music, but plays as often as he can, just for the love of performing.
“Anytime somebody will sit down and listen to me play, it’s an exciting gig,” he said in an interview on YouTube.
Henderson has performed at Carnegie Hall and at the Smithsonian Institution for “America’s Reunion” during the 1992 presidential inauguration.
This weekend, he’ll share the mountain music that led him to seek perfection in both his musical style, and his instrument making.
“I think it makes the guitars sound better,” he told Popular Mechanics. “The notes have a smoother trip out of the guitar.”
His love of music was born from Henderson’s surroundings, and although he scoffed at Elvis when he was younger, he loved the mountain music that was his heart.
“Just growing up in Southwest Virginia, it’s a hotbed of old-time music,” Henderson said in the YouTube interview.
In 1995, he received the National Heritage Award from the National Endowment for the Arts, and he is a Virginia Foundation for the Humanities Master Artist.
The New North Carolina Ramblers also will perform.
“An Afternoon of Music: Wayne Henderson and the New North Carolina Ramblers” starts at 2 p.m. Saturday at the Danville Museum of Fine Arts and History, 975 Main St.
Tickets are $10 in advance, with those ticketholders guaranteed indoor seating in the event of rain, and $5 the day of the concert. The $5 ticketholders will need to bring their own seats.
The concert, which runs until 4 p.m., will be followed by an open jam session; all those attending are encouraged to bring their instruments.
For more information, call the museum at (434) 793-5644.
This concert is a prelude to the opening of the museum’s upcoming exhibit from the Smithsonian Institution, “New Harmonies: Celebrating American Roots Music,” which will run July 20 through Aug. 24.