BEREA, Ky. (December 11, 2004) -- On Saturday, December 18, from 11:00 a.m. - 2:00 p.m. - nationally known musician Homer Ledford of Winchester, will sign his new autobiographical book, See Ya’ Further Up the Creek, which comes with a CD of performances,The Best of Homer Ledford,  by Homer and the Cabin Creek Band. This new book written by Homer, is basically an autobiography designed as a series of stories which in their entirety tell about his life and work. Michael Johnathon, producer of Woodsongs Oldtime Radio Hour,  states that this book shows Homer to be, “a mighty fine story teller as well as master craftsman and musician.” Homer will sign his new book and talk with visitors accompanied by his author/daughter Cindy Lowy who will also be signing her book, Harmony and Me,  at the Kentucky Artisan Center at Berea.

Homer Ledford was born in the mountains of Overton County, Tennessee, where the nearest town was just a post office. When he was just a kid he met two musicians who, like troubadours, traveled the mountains playing music. They would play and stay as long as you would feed them, and on Saturday nights they would roll back the rug for a dance. Homer recalls, “I can still remember sitting on the bed and thinking how great that fiddle sounded to me. I always wanted one, and that was an inspiration. When I was in high school I made my first fiddle from some wood from the hog lot.” Homer still plays on that fiddle!

At age 16, rheumatic fever sent Homer to a Vocational Rehabilitation Center in Nashville, where he connected with a group that was traveling to the John C. Campbell Folk School in Brasstown, N.C. Under a grant from the Vocational Rehab Center, Homer stayed at the Folk School where he was quickly put to work repairing old instruments and carving. He stayed there two years, producing some of the first mountain dulcimers like those he continues to make today. Homer aspired to go to college and graduated from Berea College and Eastern Kentucky University, teaching Industrial Arts in the schools of Winchester, Kentucky, before retiring in 1968.

Homer is known as a master builder of Appalachian dulcimers, guitars and banjos and is legendary in music circles as a performer who can play 10 different instruments either solo or as part of his Cabin Creek Band. Homer states, “I dearly love to design, redesign, and make new things every day because that’s where the fun is, really. I get all excited just making guitars. I really can’t wait to get to the shop in the mornings, and I don’t let up until my wife hollers – lunch!”

Homer Ledford’s musical recordings and his new autobiographical book, See Ya’ Further Up the Creek, are regularly available at the Kentucky Artisan Center at Berea. The Kentucky Artisan Center at Berea is located just off Interstate 75 at exit 77 (Berea). The Center’s exhibits, shopping, and travel information areas are all open daily from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. and the café from 8 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. Admission is free. The Center currently features works by more than 470 artisans from all across the Commonwealth. For more information call 859-985-5448 or visit the Center’s web site at www.kentuckyartisancenter.ky.gov

The Kentucky Artisan Center at Berea is an agency in the Commerce Cabinet of the Commonwealth of Kentucky.