Smoky Mountain News

Cullowhee, named for the community where its sound was born, will reunite for a concert at 7 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 18, in Hoey Auditorium at Western Carolina University.

The band began in the 1970s as a folk trio and evolved into a six-man mountain rock band featuring former WCU students Terry Edwards, Mike Clark, Sandy Flynn and Thom Jenkins, as well as Fred “Rick” Hubbard and Woody Jenkins. Members wrote and performed music including “Bring Back the Magic,” “Old Man of Sylva” and “Peace on the Mountain.” Cullowhee last toured in 1984.

The Sept. 18 event will be the group’s third reunion concert at WCU to benefit the Cullowhee Revitalization Endeavor, a nonprofit working to help revitalize the community along Old Cullowhee Road.

“We were proud of where we came from,” said Flynn before the first reunion show to benefit CuRvE in 2008. “We called our music mountain rock, and spread the name Cullowhee around the country and world, playing to audiences from 10 to 20,000.”

Past reunion concerts have raised several thousand dollars used to support beautification projects, including a recently installed student-painted mural.

“I’ve been floored to see the following that the Cullowhee band has,” said Christopher Blake, co-chair of CuRvE and assistant professor of English at WCU. “We’ve received dozens of notes along with their ticket requests telling us their memories of attending concerts more than 20 years ago and thanking us for bringing them back.”

“Students leave the concert amazed at the depth of the group’s musical talent, as members rotate between multiple instruments during the concert,” said Blake.

$25 reserved seats; $15 open seating. For tickets, gocullowhee.org; by mail at CuRvE, P.O. Box 1322, Cullowhee, N.C. 28723; or at the door before the show.

For info, cullowheeband.com, 828.399.1529 or This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. .