Walker Center Presents Concerts This Weekend Seals & Seals Friday; Cherryholmes & Donna Hughes Saturday By Jeff Eason Donna Hughes Cherryholmes You know it’s getting close to MerleFest time when you start hearing melodies leaking out of the Walker Center on the campus of Wilkes Community College. WCC will host two pre-MerleFest concerts at the Walker Center this weekend. The pop duo Seals & Seals will perform at the Walker Center on Friday, March 2nd and the country acts Cherryholmes and Donna Hughes will take the stage on Saturday, March 3rd. Both shows start at 8 p.m. and tickets are on sale now. Seals & Seals Technically part of the Walker Center Season, the Seals & Seals show features hit-making siblings Dan and Jim Seals. Jim was partnered with musician Dan Crofts in the 1970s and together the duo produced five gold albums featuring timeless classics such as “Summer Breeze” and “Diamond Girl.” Dan Seals teamed up with John Ford Coley in the seventies for the successful duo England Dan & John Ford Coley. The group’s biggest hit was the sentimental pop-rock song “I’d Really Love to See You Tonight,” before Seals began a successful solo career. In the 1980s he had eleven #1 hits as a country artist and won the 1986 Country Music Association Award for Single of the Year for the song “Bop.” He also won Duet of the Year for “Meet Me in Montana” with Marie Osmond. Friday’s Seals & Seals concert will feature well-loved classics plus newer material. “Like the timeless songs each helped to create, Seals & Seals connect with an audience that appreciates their musical gifts and unique songs that cut to the heart of the human experience,” said a spokesperson for the Walker Center Season. Jim Seals adds, “Our love for the music has always sustained us and we’re truly blessed to have such great fans and the freedom and support to express our art.” Tickets for the Seals & Seals show are $39 per person. Students and those 65 and older receive discounts. Tickets can be ordered from the Walker Center Box Office by calling (336) 838-6260. Cherryholmes & Donna Hughes 2005 International Bluegrass Music Association Entertainers of the Year Cherryholmes will perform at the Walker Center as part of the prelude to MerleFest 2007. The band will take the stage along with Rounder Records artist Donna Hughes on Saturday, March 3rd. Cherryholmes is an exciting family bluegrass band that has been taking audiences by storm since 2002. The sextet features a mom, dad and children ages 14-22. Currently, Cherryholmes performs about 300 shows a year and their debut CD, Cherryholmes, was nominated for a Grammy for Best Bluegrass Album last year. Interestingly, the family didn’t even play bluegrass music until about seven years ago. After seeing a Jim & Jesse concert near their home in Los Angeles, the parents got the bright idea to make bluegrass music the focal point of the kids’ home-school curriculum. Since then they have appeared on the Grand Ole Opry, Ernest Tubb’s Midnight Jamboree, Nashville’s CMA Music Festival, the IBMA Fan Fest, and numerous radio and TV shows. Trinity, North Carolina’s Donna Hughes will open the show. Her first nationally-released album, Gaining Wisdom, hit the stores this week. The CD was produced by Tony Rice and features guest performances by Alison Krauss, Rhonda Vincent, Mary Chapin Carpenter. Tickets for the Cherryholmes and Donna Hughes show are $16 in advance and $18 the day of the show. For more information, call the Walker Center Box Office at (336) 838-6260, or visit www.walkercenteronline.org.