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Rutherford County native and old-time buck dancer Thomas Maupin is the
2009 Uncle Dave Macon Days Trailblazer award winner. The self-taught is
being honored for his work as a trailblazer who has been at the
forefront of preserving a traditional art. It will be presented on
stage, Friday, July 10 at 7 p.m. He is the third generation of his
family to perform and preserve this art form. His grandmother was known
to dance bare-footed on her wooden floor. Considered one of the best traditional flat-foot dancers in the county, Maupin has won six national old-time buck dancing titles presented by Uncle Dave Macon Days. Additionally, during the past 25 years, he has won more than 60 first-place honors including winning at the Appalachian String Band Music Festival at Clifftop, W.Va. In 2008, he captured the top spot in the Nashville Silver Stars talent competition for artists 60 years and older, and was nominated for a Tennessee Governor’s Award in the Arts in 2009. Additionally, the soft-spoken grandfather was featured in the Old Time Herald magazine. He has been a Master Artist presenter at workshops at the Swannanoa Gathering music program at Warren-Wilson College and Merle Fest at Wilkes Community College. Aside from his many honors, Maupin freely has given of his talent, working with young dancers encouraging them to “feel the music . . . there’s just something magical when there’s good music and the feeling gets right. I just get so high I could cry.” |
