Trevecca Nazarene University

Ridge Runners to appear at Homecoming

The Saturday-night (Nov. 8) Homecoming event, the Music City Roadhouse, will feature the Ridge Runners, the Bluegrass music group that members formed during their Trevecca years.

The Ridge Runners made their first appearance at Trevecca in a 1973 variety show on campus. In that first group E.G. Smith, Dan Whetstone, Bill Smith, and a couple of others performed several classics from the Bluegrass music genre. The group expanded in 1974 when Buz Harrison, Allen Holmes, Paul Brannon, and Jerry Crummer joined the group. During the next few years others filled in from time to time.

The Ridge Runners brought a mix of comedy and Bluegrass music to many campus events and parties, but entertaining college students was only one aspect of the Ridge Runners. In its early years the group brought Sunday morning music to chapel services for the children incarcerated at the Tennessee Reception and Guidance Center in Nashville. The Ridge Runners also played gospel music at many of the local churches and participated in Project Invasion that took them to Kentucky for a weekend. In 1976 the Ridge Runners were sponsored by Pioneer Foods to travel and perform at both Mid-America and Mt. Vernon Nazarene Colleges. The group also performed at the Smithville Annual Fiddlers Contest in Tennessee. For the past 13 years the band—still comprised of E.G., Dan, Bill, Buz, Allen, Paul, and Jerry—gets together for Homecoming reunion concerts.
Music City Roadhouse includes dinner with the entertainment. For tickets, contact the Office of Alumni Services at 615-248-1238 or ndunlap@trevecca.edu.