Artists to strum tunes at acoustic fest

Beat the heat at the Murray Acoustic Music Festival, Monday Sept. 3, at the Murray Park Amphitheater, 495 E. 5300 South, Murray. Music starts at 6 p.m., and general admission is $5 with kids under 12 free.

From early days of plinkin' on a $40 Sears & Roebuck guitar, to his present status as a performing and recording artist, Charley Simmons has made a lifetime of entertaining people with his music. Born in 1950 and raised on a farm near Blackiston Crossroads, Del., Charley began playing the guitar at age 9. By age 16, he was earning money traveling and performing throughout the state with a band, but it wasn't until his move to St. Augustine, Fla., in 1971 and his exposure to the late Gamble Rogers that he began to develop his own finger-picking solo style. Since that time his playing has taken him much further.

Charley was the 1992 Utah State Flattop Guitar champion, the 2002 Wyoming State Fingerstyle champion, the winner of the 2003 Gamble Rogers Fingerstyle Guitar competition and a winner in the 2005 KRCL singer/songwriter competition.

Charley's music is as diverse as his musical influences have been, drawing on folk, blues, bluegrass and jazz. "I might play a song about a depressed coal mine economy — I spent seven years as an underground miner so I know a little about this — and then follow it up with the 'Sheik of Araby.' I don't know if this is normal behavior, but it seems to work."

Normal or not, Charley continues to captivate audiences with his articulate guitar playing and voice, which was once described as a combination of "dry, shag-cut tobacco and honey." His concerts generate all the intimacy and warmth one might experience if invited into his living room and seated next to the fireplace on a cold winter's night.

Hammer Down was originally formed by Mark Jenkins in the early spring of 2003. The original band name was Salt Flat Pickers, and to date it has involved several talented local musicians. The core players —Mark Jenkins, Ezra Bussman, Wayne Gordon and Jake Workman — got together in the pursuit of developing the unique and hard-hitting sound for which Hammer Down is known. Hammer Down was deemed the "Hottest Bluegrass Band in Utah" by the IAMA at the Gallivan Center Bluegrass Festival in August 2005.

Unstrung is a family bluegrass band consisting of the Singleton family — Todd (father) on guitar; Nancy (mother) on bass; Nicki on banjo, fiddle, guitar and mandolin; and Nanette on banjo, fiddle, guitar and mandolin.