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Country guitar icon Redd Volkaert plans to make Roanoke his new musical home.
Courtesy of Redd Volkaert
Volkaert and his wife found a "perfect property" in Galax and moved there in January of 2020.
Redd Volkaert shocked the Austin, Texas, music scene when he announced he was leaving the “Live Music Capital of the World” for good in late 2019. He’d held a legendary Saturday afternoon residency at The Continental Club for more than 20 years and was widely regarded as the city’s reigning guitar king.
“Redd was for Austin what Aaron Neville was for New Orleans,” says Kyle Coroneos, a longtime Austin resident and the editor-in-chief of savingcountrymusic.com. “He put on the hottest show in town; you never knew who was going to show up and sit in.”
A master of honkytonk, country blues and western swing, Volkaert made a name for himself backing superstars like George Jones, Dwight Yoakam, Johnny Paycheck, Charlie Pride, Vince Gill—and touring as Merle Haggard’s lead guitarist in the late-90s and early-alts. Continental Club patrons could expect surprise appearances from six-string demigods like Ted Nugent, Albert Lee, Bill Kirchen, Billy Gibbons, Eric Johnson, James Burton and more.
“Redd is one of my biggest heroes… he truly shaped the way I play,” Brad Paisley said in a 2005 interview with Vintage Guitar Magazine. “There’s something about the attitude he has when you see him play live—you can’t believe the combination of [styles] he infuses into his playing.”
Paisley played shows with Volkaert whenever he passed through Austin. He hired Volkaert, now 63, to play at his 2003 wedding and has featured him on multiple albums. Their most notable collaboration to date was on 2008’s “Play,” which won a Best Country Instrumental Performance Grammy for the song “Clusterpluck.”
Volkaert initially kept his destination a secret. Then rumors surfaced in early-2020 about a new trio and an impending Thursday night residency at the Floyd Country Store. And they proved true: Volkaert has relocated to Virginia’s Blue Ridge Mountains with plans of making the Roanoke area his new musical home.
Why southwest Virginia? Volkaert fell in love with the area’s natural beauty while performing with Bill Kirchen at the 2019 Wayne C. Henderson Music Festival & Guitar Competition in Grayson Highlands State Park.
“I couldn’t believe how gorgeous everything was,” says Volkaert. “It reminded me of Maine, which I love—but you don’t have those crazy winters to deal with.”
Volkaert returned to Austin to find himself talking up Virginia’s Blue Ridge region. He kept thinking about the laidback pace of life, pastoral landscapes, country hospitality and deep-rooted bluegrass traditions.
“I’d been playing six or seven nights a week since I was 17,” says Volkaert. When he wasn’t on the road he was “doing two or three gigs a day in town, or sitting in wherever I could.”
The British Columbia native spent his late teens and early-20s touring with country-western bands in Canada. He moved to California in 1986, logged 5 years in the L.A. music scene, then followed with a decade in Nashville. He relocated to Austin around 2000, saying “I’d had enough of the pop bubblegum music being played on the radio and in all the studios. The crowds in Austin seemed to accept people for their musical ability more than their clothes, hair, cowboy hats, or lack thereof.”
By 2020 Volkaert was ready for another change.
“My wife and I had been talking about getting a little house in the country and taking the pace down a few notches,” says Volkaert. They loved horses and boarded a few beyond the city limits. They hoped to find a small farm where they could keep more and live alongside them.
“The issue was finding a pretty patch of land that wouldn’t break the bank and was within an hour or so drive of a city with a decent music scene,” says Volkaert. Meanwhile, no semi-respectable clubs could be located close-to-home.
“I guess I’ve always been afraid of being a broke artist, so I’m not a guy that can say no to a gig, especially if it’s right down the street,” says Volkaert. “If there was an okay honkytonk bar within ten miles of where I lived, it wouldn’t take long for me to be playing there three, four nights a week.”
Studying maps of Virginia, rural areas near Roanoke looked promising. The couple booked a flight and set out on a road trip to explore mountain towns and communities to the southwest. They found what Volkaert calls a perfect property in Galax and moved in January of 2020.
On one hand, Volkaert loved the area’s rugged beauty. On the other came its proximity to centers of music education and culture like Henderson’s School of Appalachian Arts, the Crooked Road Musical Heritage Trail and the Blue Ridge Music Center. Roanoke and Winston-Salem were both within an hour-and-a-half driving distance.
“I’ve always tried to pass on what I can to younger guys and gals that want to learn,” says Volkaert, who recently recorded a series of instructional courses for TrueFire, an online musical education platform.
Nashville bandmates used to tease him about his ‘guitar stalker,’ which was none other than a 20-year-old Brad Paisley. Paisley was enrolled in Belmont University’s music program and routinely appeared at Volkaert’s gigs with a notepad in tow. Volkaert spent set breaks answering questions about gear, approaches to solos, and so on, while Paisley scribbled notes.
“Being an old fart, I spend more and more time reflecting on all the joy and purpose music has brought to my life,” laughs Volkaert. “To be in an area that has so many great programs aimed at fostering musicianship among young people is really appealing. I look forward to getting involved with some of that.”
While Volkaert talks of slowing down he has no plans of retiring.
“Call it a blessing or a curse, I’ve been nuts about the guitar since I was 10 years old and I’m just as crazy about it now as I was then,” says Volkaert. “I imagine when I die, they’ll probably have to pry one out my hands or bury me with it!”
Volkaert tapped local talent and formed a new trio within weeks of arrival. Former Jefferson Center artistic director, Dylan Locke, plays standup bass. Galax-based drummer, Nick Falk—who gained notoriety working with The Wood Brothers and Country Music Association award-winning acoustic guitarist, Molly Tuttle—is on drums.
The band intended to kick off a weekly Thursday evening residency at The Floyd Country Store in the summer of 2020. COVID-19 upended those plans. The group rehearsed and streamed a few live shows during the pandemic, and is now looking forward to a gig-filled summer, with events in Virginia and North Carolina.
Volkaert will also continue to tour nationally with The Twangbangers, his band with Bill Kirchen and pedal steel guru, Joe Goldmark. That’s good news for music-loving Roanokers, as he hopes to book the group and collaborations with former bandmates like fiddle virtuoso, Katie Glassman, at local venues like the Jefferson Center.
“I spent more time at home this past year than at any point in my adult life,” says Volkaert. “I’m excited to get back out there on the stage and start checking out what this area is all about.”
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