Dr. Greg Latta performs at the 2015 Appalachian Festival
at Frostburg State University.
Photo Credit: Harry Lichtman
The 2015 Appalachian Festival was this weekend, lasting from September 17th-September 19th on the campus of Frostburg State University. Notable events at this year's Festival were a play, and various presentations and performances, One event that I checked out on Saturday, the 19th, was a musical performance by Dr. Greg Latta.
Latta is a professor in the Department of Physics and Engineering at Frostburg State University. However, he is not just a professor. Latta is also a singer and performer on the hammered dulcimer, guitar, Irish bouzouki, banjo, harmonica, recorder, Appalachian dulcimer, and concertina. So in addition to teaching Physics to college students, he is also very musically talented.
At this year's Appalachian Festival, Latta performed on the Sowers Stage and showed off his musical talents by singing famous songs while playing instruments like the banjo and recorder. He performed a total of 7 songs, including "Walkin' Boss," a song about the railroad, "If I Had a Hammer," a song by Pete Seeger, "Wake of the Storm," a song about Ocean City, "Life on the Rolling Sea," a pirate song in which Latta got us to sing along to, "A Whole World Round," "Jamaica Farewell," and "Wake Up Sugar." I was quite impressed with his performance as well as other audience members were. As a clarinet player, I like how talented he is with instruments like the banjo and recorder.
I spoke with Dr. Greg Latta shortly after his performance and asked him why he wanted to play the banjo. "Ever since I heard someone play it, I knew I had to do that," he said. "I really put my effort into it and continued." Latta said during the performance that he started playing banjo during his freshman year of high school. He also said that he started playing the recorder after he saw "The Sound of Music."
I also spoke with a member of the audience: Nicole Sharp, a former FSU student who graduated in 2013 and has seen Latta perform before. "He's great. I've seen him perform for years. I saw him perform when I first started at Frostburg," she said.
I also spoke with another member of the audience: Conlon Thomas, a former Cumberland mayor. "I heard him perform on WFWM," he said. "I think he's one of the leading people on this instrument (referring to the banjo)."
For more information about Dr. Greg Latta, go to AlleganyArtsCouncil.org. http://www.alleganyartscouncil.org/attraction.php?attraction=661&category=8&ac=661,8
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