Henry Reed Fund Grant

Great News! We are honored to announce that William will receive the Henry Reed Fund Award from the Library of Congress for his Bean String Ballad Sing program. William has been dreaming up the project for quite some time. It combines Appalachian foodways and ballad singing into a participatory and educational event that draws on the old contexts in which this music was once shared. Obviously the previous plans for the event will need to be seriously altered due to the realities of COVID-19, but we believe there is a creative and responsible way forward! William is particularly honored to receive this award, named for influential fiddler Henry Reed. Pictured here is William with Henry Reed's son Dean (bottom), and Alan Jabbour (top) who learned directly from Henry. Alan was the founding director of the American Folklife Center of the Library of Congress and a heck of a good fiddler to boot.