On Friday, July 10, Somerset Community College (SCC) will host a Homecoming Celebration and Legacy Square Dedication. The event, which is free and open to the public, will feature food, live music and a special ceremony to honor past SCC employees and board members for their service to the college. Activities will be held on the SCC Somerset North campus, located at 808 Monticello Street in Somerset, and will begin at 4 p.m. with registration starting at 3 p.m. SCC will host the event prior to the Friday night opening of Master Musicians Festival, which is held on the grounds of SCC.
Former SCC students Russ Farmer and Kevin Dalton will return to provide live music for the event. Farmer leads a bluegrass band in Lexington, called Southland Drive and Dalton, of Faubush, will play with his self-described “BluePsychodelicidalHippieGrass” band Kevin Dalton and the Tuesday Blooms.
Russ Farmer, of Lexington, attended SCC from 1966 to 1969. He earned an AAS in journalism, radio, television and film.
“Attending SCC allowed me to meet two of the most influential men of my career, Don Orwin and John Howard,” said Farmer. “They each took me under their wing and shared their knowledge of the world of radio and television.”
Farmer retired from a 30-year career in television production with Kentucky Educational television (KET). The last 20 years of his career was spent producing and directing music productions including, “The Lonesome Pine” specials, “In Performance at The Governor’s Mansion,” “Jubilee” and many others. After retiring in 2003, Russ was in a bluegrass jam band with some friends for several years. When that ended, he and some friends started a band called Howard’s Creek and then later started Southland Drive, the band he plays with today.
Southland Drive consists of Farmer on guitars and vocals, Frank Godbey on mandolin and vocals, Charlie Hall on banjo and vocals, Ruth McLain Smith on bass and vocals and Samantha Cunningham on fiddle.
Farmer continues to do small television projects including a documentary on legendary banjo player J.D. Crowe titled, “A Kentucky Treasure: The J.D. Crowe Story” and a similarly titled documentary on The Osborne Brothers. Russ is presently working on another documentary on The McLain Family Band.
Kevin Dalton grew up in southern Kentucky, raised on bluegrass, and credits New Grass Revival as his first taste of “rock and roll.” From an early age he began making music that blended genres. Counting Darrell Scott and Ryan Adams as two of his current strongest influences, he continues to write and make music that crosses genres and erases the lines between them.
Dalton has performed with and without a backing band. He has appeared at ROMP in Owensboro, Master Musicians Festival, and at the Listening Room and Tootsie's in Nashville, and was recently featured solo at songwriters’ rounds at the Bluebird Café in Nashville. His most recent project, The Tuesday Blooms, is a lyrically-driven sometimes trio, sometimes quartet, sometimes quintet, that often features Owen Reynolds on the double bass and JoAnna Moses on harmony vocals. Along with a mix of other musicians that are liable to “bloom” on stage at any given performance.
Focusing on the stories of people in the rural Kentucky foothills where he grew up and still makes his home, his songs are full of images and startling metaphorical leaps, set to melodies that show his depth and range, the eclecticism of taste and talent that marks him as an original voice.
About the Event
Registration for SCC’s Homecoming Celebration and Legacy Square Dedication will begin at 3 p.m. with the program beginning at 4 p.m. and concluding at 6:30 p.m.
Music by Southland Drive will begin at 4:15 p.m. and Kevin Dalton and The Tuesday Blooms will play at 5:30 p.m. Between music sets, the college’s Legacy Square will be dedicated. The square is the college’s way of honoring long-time employees and board members for their distinguished service to the students and community. Bricks engraved with the names of retirees who served the college for more than 15 years have been placed around the globe at the front of Meece Hall on the SCC Somerset North Campus. Names of SCC’s Board of Directors, as well as employees who passed away while working at SCC, have also been placed around the square. The Legacy Square Dedication ceremony will honor their commitment and service.
The SCC Homecoming Celebration and Legacy Square Dedication is a free event and is open to the public. In addition, the first 200 attendees will receive free tickets to Friday night’s events at the Master Musicians Festival. The event is part of the College’s 50th Anniversary celebration that runs throughout 2015.
Homecoming Celebration Schedule
3 p.m. – Registration Opens
4 p.m. - Welcome
4:15 p.m. – Music by Southland Drive
5 p.m. – Legacy Square Dedication
5:30 p.m. – Music by Kevin Dalton and The Tuesday Blooms
6:30 p.m. – Event concludes