I know this isn't an all Buick event, but I thought some might be interested. It would be nice to see a few more Buicks attending this show. Charlie Daniels Band to headline Friends of Coal Auto Fair By Dawn Dayton REGISTER-HERALD MANAGING EDITOR The Charlie Daniels Band will headline the annual Friends of Coal Auto Fair on July 22 at the Paul Cline Memorial Youth Sports Complex. The auto fair, known previously as the Whitewater Run Car Show, will be held July 21-23 under the direction of the Beckley-Raleigh County YMCA. Friends of Coal has joined the show as major sponsor and a number of coal companies and support industries will lend their aid to the show again this year as they have in the past. While cars of all sorts will continue to be the anchor of the fair show, YMCA executive director Jim Gilchrist says there will be many improvements and additional activities this year. Its the Friends of Coal weekend, he said. Theyre all about the kids, as is the Y. Of course, our motto is, We build strong kids, strong families, strong communities. Friends of Coal believes that, too. Among the added activities for 2006 are a fireworks show following the concert, a carnival and a pig roast. Gilchrist also said the sound system will be improved. Opening the concert will be the local band Taylor Made, previously known as I-79. The name change for the country band was initiated by its Nashville manager/producer Dale Morris and Associates. According to member Greg Duckworth, the new name came about because the members grew up in Taylor County. Tickets for the concert will be $10 for adults and $5 for students up through high school age. - - - A Southerner by birth, Daniels music rock, country, bluegrass, blues, gospel is quintessentially Southern. In fact, even his bent for all things western is Southern because his attire, his lifestyle and his interests are historically emblematic of Southern working class solidarity with the lone cowboy individualism of the American West. Everyone knows his fiddle-classic Devil Went Down To Georgia, but Daniels repertoire embodies more than just that one song. In 1975, his Fire on the Mountain album was propelled to double platinum status with rebel anthems Long-Haired Country Boy and The Souths Gonna Do It. He has earned Grammy and Dove awards and his annual Volunteer Jam concerts served as a prototype for many of todays annual daylong musical mara-thons. With an unerring instinct for the universal ties that bind people together, Daniels has kept the specifics of his cultural heritage as the soul of the CDB music that has impacted the lives of everyday people everywhere. Its purely American music with something for everyone, he said. At least thats what Ive hoped for in my 40-plus years in music. Friends of Coal Auto Fair.com
