Shawn Camp - Deep Roots, Many Voices: Summer Outdoor Concert Series (Blue Ridge Music Center - Milepost 213)

Shawn Camp

Camp began playing guitar as a small child, growing up outside Perryville, Arkansas. Mandolin and fiddle followed, all before he could drive. He remembers dreaming of melodies, waking up, and being able to play them. “I just always loved music. It’s been my everything, really,” Camp says. “My dad worked out of state, so we moved around a lot. Whenever we’d go somewhere, I’d carry a stack of records and a little record player with my guitar. Music was my only constant––that, and my mom and dad.”

A prodigy who never knew how to be anything but, Camp moved to Nashville at 20, and found early gigs playing with the Osborne Brothers, Jerry Reed, Alan Jackson, Shelby Lynne, and Trisha Yearwood. Then, he really started writing––and singing with sly grace, smooth but earthy. Camp released his first solo album, Shawn Camp, on the Reprise (Warner Bros.) label, but found his biggest success as a songwriter, penning hits for Willie Nelson, Garth Brooks, Brooks & Dunn, Josh Turner, Blake Shelton, George Strait, and many others. He became a trusted collaborator of John Prine, Loretta Lynn, and Guy Clark, with whom he wrote constantly, and toured occasionally. When Clark won a Grammy in 2014 for his final album, My Favorite Picture of You, Camp took home a statue as one of the record’s producers. In 2015, Camp took home another Grammy, this time, as lead vocalist for bluegrass supergroup the Earls of Leicester.

The Ghost of Sis Draper, Camp’s most recent release, immerses listeners in a sharply drawn world: The devil’s box is temptation and salvation; life is beautiful, but death lurks nearby; and the hero is a wayfaring, fiddle-wielding woman called Sis Draper. Camp was seven years old when the Arkansas fiddle player named Sis Draper arrived at a pickin’ party in the hills of Perry County. “I remember her walking in the house, the first time I saw her, with a big beehive hairdo and a fiddle in a coffin case,” Camp says. Camp and Clark co-wrote every song on the album, save one, which Clark wrote alone. Clark released six of the songs on his own albums over the years, but the seven other tunes on The Ghost of Sis Draper are being released for the first time. “It’s partially fairytale and partially truth,” Camp says with a grin. “We intentionally wrote songs that fit together.”

More information: Shawn Camp

ADDITIONAL CONCERT DETAILS

•  Ticket purchases are nonrefundable
•  Concerts take place rain or shine
•  Admission gates open at 5:45 p.m.; concert begins at 7 p.m.
•  This concert takes place in our uncovered outdoor amphitheater. Guests should bring lawn chairs or blankets for seating in the grass.
•  Here in the mountains, the weather forecast can change quickly. We recommend bringing layers and a rain jacket or umbrella in the event of a passing rain shower.
•  Guests are welcome to bring a picnic or purchase from our on-site food vendor. No alcohol is allowed, per National Park/Blue Ridge Parkway policies.
•  Food vendor selection is not guaranteed – we recommended bringing water and snacks in case food vendor lines are long or they run out of food
•  Alcohol, drones, pop-up tents, and tables are not allowed in the amphitheater
•  Dogs are permitted at most shows with the following rules: dogs must always be on leash; guests with dogs are only permitted to sit on the hillside above the rock walls and not in the main seating area below the rock walls; guests must clean up after their dogs; if a dog’s behavior is interfering with other patrons’ enjoyment of the show, the guest and dog may be asked to leave the amphitheater and no refund will be given. 

The Bluffs Restaurant will offer food and beverages for purchase during the concert. Visitors may bring their own food and beverages into the amphitheater. Alcoholic beverages are not permitted. 

Assistive listening devices are available for use during concerts. Guests wishing to borrow a free device should email info@blueridgemusiccenter.org in advance of their visit.

For more information, view Blue Ridge Parkway Foundation concert FAQs