What are people saying about the Sheets Family Band
regarding their concert at Big Stone Gap "...you guys are great. You came out and let them have it with both barrels." - Tommy Bledsoe
Everyone is talking about their concert in Big Stone Gap... they stole the show." Bill Smith
"...killer CD." - Dale Jett
"...one of the areas most beloved acoustic music acts" - David Brewer, High Country Press.
The Sheets Family CD exemplifies family in many ways, from the wonderful mother-daughter harmony singing, original songs dealing with community, friends and changing times, and the husband-wife duets of old familiar songs from the southern mountains. This CD brings the Sheets family right to your living room. It has my wife and I tapping our toes and singing along, and it brings a smile to our three-month daughter when she is on the verge of fussing.
Mark Freed - folklorist -Watauga County - North Carolina
Using the music of the Carter Family as a foundation, Randy, Deborah Jean and Kelly Sheets have their own unique sound. Their wholesome and powerful singing style evokes a distinct freshness - much like a Blue Ridge Mountain spring.
Dale Morris
Our Schedule - 2012
*April 3, 2012 - Apple Barn - Valle Crucis - 6PM
*April 21, 2012 - Matney Community Center - Banner Elk, NC - 4PM
*May 19, 2012 - Valle Crucis Park - TBA
*June 22, 2012 - "On the Square" - Jonesboro, TN - 8PM
*July 4, 2012 - Blue Ridge Village - Banner ELk, NC - 5:50 - 8:30
*July 22, 2012 - Mountain Home Music - Grace Lutheran - TBA
*July 25, 2012 - Mountain Music School Concert -Mtn. Empire Community College - Big Stone Gap, VA - TBA
*August 3, 2012 - Jones House - Boone, NC - 8-9PM
*August 4, 2012 - Boone Farmer's Market - 9:30-12:00 noon
*August 5, 2012 - Valle Crucis Summer Music - St. John's - 5pm
*August 18, 2012 - Ola Belle Reed Fesitval - TBA
*August 31, 2012 - Backstreet Music - West Jefferson, NC - 6pm
*September 1, 2012 - Albert Hash Memorial Festival - Whitetop, VA - Mt. Rogers School - TBA
*September 8, 2012 - New River Winery - Lansing, NC - 2-4:30
Contact Us
Places we have played
- Appalachian State University
- Albert Hash Festival
- Damascus General Store
- Southern Draft Days
- Appalachian Mountain Musicfest
- Clinch Mountain Music Festival
- Wayne Henderson Music Festival
- Mountain Music School - Mountain Empire Community College - Big Stone Gap, VA
- National Folk Festival - Richmond, VA
- FloydFest with Ron Short
- WBRF - Galax, VA
- The Leaf and String Festival - Galax, VA
- Home Craft Days - Big Stone Gap, VA
- WATA - Boone, NC
- Seedtime on the Cumberland -Appalshop - Whitesburg, KY
- WKSK - West Jefferson, NC
- WETS - Studio One - Johnson City, TN
- The Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts - Washington, DC
- Ashe Arts Council - West Jefferson, NC
- Watauga Arts Council - Boone, NC
- Historic Rex Theater - Galax, VA
- The Blueridge Music Center - Galax, VA
- Mountain Home Music Show - Boone, NC
- Blue Ridge Folklife Festival - Ferrum, VA
- Ola Belle Reed Festival - Lansing, NC
- Bristol Rhythm and Roots Reunion - Bristol, VA/TN
- The Library of Congress - Coolidge Auditorium - Washington, DC
- The Carter Fold - Hiltons,VA
more about us
Randy and Deborah Jean Sheets sing and play old-time music. These two longtime musicians have been performing together for the past thirty years. They have roots in Grayson County, VA but now live in the Bethel community of Watauga County, NC.
Steeped in the folk and old-time traditions, Deborah Jean plays guitar and sings. She has played with a variety of groups over the past 25 years from string bands to trio and duet groups. She loves to sing and you will usually hear her supplying the harmony vocal in whatever group she is playing. Randy, a claw hammer banjo picker, is a devotee of old-time string band music. The couple regularly competes as individual and together in a duet at fiddlers conventions throughout the Appalachian region.
Randy is often asked to judge some of these contests, in Virginia, NC and TN, the most notable being “The Old Fiddlers Convention” in Galax, VA. He is also an award winning flat-foot dancer and performs regularly at the Blue Ridge Music Center (along with his 85 year old mother).
This husband and wife team have played for a variety of radio programs including "The Bluegrass and Old Time Show", WKSK AM in West Jefferson, NC, "Studio One", WETS FM in Johnson City, TN and "Blue Ridge Backroads" , a live radio broadcast from the historic Rex Theatre in Galax, VA. They also played for the inaugural season at the Blue Ridge Music Center at Fishers Peak along the Blue Ridge Parkway near Galax, Virginia sponsored by the National Council for the Traditional Arts (and have now become regulars there) and play every year at the Blue Ridge Folklife Festival in Ferrum, VA. They are also very excited about becoming involved in the Bristol Rhythm and Roots Festival in Bristol, VA/TN.
They were asked in 2004 to appear (along with Dale Jett, Linda and David Lay) as part of the Carter Family Band to represent Janette Carter at the National Heritage Awards. This ensemble appeared together at the Library of Congress and at Lisner Auditorium on the campus of George Washington University in Washington, DC in September of 2005. They got together again as part of the Crooked Road Show at the National Folk Festival in Richmond, VA.
Their CD, "The Birds Were Singing of You", was reviewed in the April/May - 2006 edition of the OLD TIME HERALD - check it out.
The couple has now been added to the Blue Ridge National Heritage Area Traditional Artist Directory. They are available for performances, workshops on harmony singing and for dances.
Their daughter Kelly has joined the band providing another wonderful voice and old-time fiddle. Kelly began singing with her mom when she was 13. Their friend Ned Treivette says "their voices blend beautifully but it is more than that, they sound like one voice". Kelly recently wed Ian Snider so she is now Kelly Snider. Ian is a clawhammer bano player and he has a wonderful singing voice. The Sniders (like maw and paw)enjoy performing together too and have a wonderful sound.
RAP Grant
Deborah Jean is awarded the RAP grant!
The Regional Artist Project of Northwest North Carolina Grants Program is a partnership between the arts councils of Alleghany, Ashe, Watauga, and Wilkes Counties and the North Carolina Arts Council. Deborah Jean has just been awarded one of these grants to record her original material and some Carter family favorites.
