Justin Trawick picked up his father’s classical guitar when he was 13 years old, and he hasn’t stopped playing since. The 27 year-old Leesburg native and his collective, the Justin Trawick Group, will return to Grist Mill Park this Friday night to perform in the Mount Vernon Nights concert series. Trawick taught himself how to play guitar by following along with songs on the radio. When he began college at Longwood University, he started a band called Woodburn Road and opened up for Edwin McCain and Jimmy’s Chicken Shack. His cousin, who lived in Austin, TX, sent Trawick compilations from …

Polynesian dance instructor Carol Takafuji started a Polynesian dance ensemble after a group of her students expressed interest in performing. After taking Polynesian dance classes for a number of years, Takafuji began teaching Polynesian dance classes at the Spring Hill RECenter in 2004. A group of her students wanted to take their new skills to the stage and Takafuji organized the students. The name of the ensemble, Hui O Ka Pua ‘Ilima, is traditional Hawaiian for “group of the ‘Ilima flower,” the flower of the island of Oahu. Seven years later, the ensemble is still performing traditional …

Mount Vernon will get a taste of the blues tomorrow evening when Rick Franklin and His Delta Blues Boys perform at Grist Mill Park. Franklin, an Arlington resident, has been performing blues music for three decades. His band includes Tom Cox on acoustic bass, Phil Wiggins on harmonic, Rick Usilton on percussion, and Franklin on lead guitar and vocals. The band specializes in Piedmont blues, a regional style of music popular in African-American communities during the late 1920s. What makes Piedmont blues different from other genres? “I’m using my thumb to play alternate bass line and my other …

For the last seven years, Maryland's Chester River Runoff has been entertaining crowds from Maine to Nashville with their bluegrass sounds.  The band formed in the early 2000s when guitarist Ben Armitage and banjo player Sam Guthridge would meet for jam sessions at Armitage's family farm on the Chester River. The pair recruited Tim Parent on mandolin and Ian Trusheim on bass, and the band began to play at local bars in 2004.  The current incarnation of Chester River Runoff includes fiddler Nate Grower and bassist Marc Dykeman.  "We tried to master traditional bluegrass and build on that," …

Everywhere he goes, songwriter and musician Paul Reisler is conscious of leading what he calls a 'musical life.' “The thing I try to do is to live a musical life where I respond to whatever comes to me in a musical way,” said Reisler.  “That’s how I’ve written some of these albums and songs.” Reisler will perform at Grist Mill Park for the first time this Friday as part of the Mount Vernon Nights concert series. The Virginia native has been a part of the national folk music scene for more than three decades. He earned his bachelor’s degree in music theory and composition from George …

Elvis, Johnny Cash, and Paul McCartney. What do these three artists have in common? They are all artists played by Maryland native and tribute artist Jed Duvall. Duvall will pay tribute to Johnny Cash and kick off the Mount Vernon Nights concert series at Grist Mill Park tomorrow evening. Duvall became a tribute artist after watching an Elvis impersonator perform at his high school when he was 15 years old. “I was just impressed by his effect on the crowd and the way he performed and I really enjoyed watching it,” said Duvall. “I decided I wanted to do it myself.” The self-taught guitar …