Music in the Mountains

In mountainous Madison County, Josh Goforth practically eats, breathes and sleeps music. There's not much time for anything else when you compose, conduct and teach music appreciation for your high school band, teach private lessons, play in several bands and occasionally record your own CDs.

But this 17-year old A-student made time last fall to apply to college, where he wants to study music education so he can come back to the area and teach marching band (although Josh admits, "if Ricky Scaggs called, I wouldn't spurn him"). Then he could be paid to do the things he already does and does well. Under his leadership, the high school band went undefeated in competition this year, for instance. One of the warm-up songs for their competitions was a piece Josh composed based on a 19th century shape-note hymn.

Josh began playing piano at church when he was four years old. His uncle gave him a guitar in the sixth grade, the same year he heard balladeer Sheila Adams perform traditional music, and a whole new world opened for him. The music wasn't new - he had heard it all his life. But he saw and heard it in a new light. He realized that men he had seen around since he was a little boy were also musicians. That same year, Sheila invited him to play at the Mountain Dance and Folk Festival in Asheville, and he saw instruments he hadn't seen before. Now he can play all those instruments - mandolin, banjo, fiddle, you name it.

And he plays in several bands. "I play whatever instrument needs to be played or what I feel like playing," Josh says. "Sometimes you just feel like playing one instrument more than the other." He composes the same way. "Sometimes I feel like composing a regular fiddle tune, but another time I might compose overtures for wind instruments. Sometimes composing just hits me like in the middle of the night and I wake up and draw out a tune. I always have melodies in my head and I have a notebook filled with ideas, but a spark has to be there for me to compose."

What drives Josh to live his life so immersed in music? According to him, "85% of the drive is getting other people started in music and keeping the traditional music alive. The other 15% is because I have so much fun."

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