We wrote last month about the passing of Pete Corum, popular North Carolina bluegrass bass player and vocalist, and former member of Lester Flatt & The Nashville Grass. Pete had also been a part of the Broadway shows Cotton Patch Gospel and Smoke on the Mountain.
A Memorial Service is scheduled for Pete on Sunday, January 30 at the Troutman Church of God in Troutman, NC. The service begins at 2:00 p.m., and will be followed by a jam session at the church. All musicians are encouraged to bring their instruments to pay their respects as he would have preferred, and honor his deep love for bluegrass music. All are welcome.
Let us also take this opportunity to share a story from Jim Beaver, who contributed the left hand part of the photo above.
“Rhonda Vincent did a show at the Gem Theatre in Kannapolis, NC on October 10, 2012. The opening act was Jeff Whittington and what would become the Brand New Opry Band, of which Pete Corum was the bass player.
The town had closed off the street in front of the Gem for the show, and afterward the artists came out to meet the large crowd of people who were there to mingle. I saw Pete and handed my camera to a passer by to take my photo with him. It was this photo that Pete was cropped from for the article.
As a sidebar, the fellow standing behind me on the right side of the photo is Robert Slaydon — the guy who did the train whistle on Rhonda’s 2005 Live DVD.”
Small world…
