Mary Munsey

SoHA Coordinator

Accolades:

• International Woody Guthrie Festival song of the year in 2010
• IBMA awards for excellent bluegrass music lesson plans for young children

Here is a sample of Mary Munsey’s work.

Mary Munsey

Mary Munsey, from Abingdon VA, received her BA in music ed from Emory & Henry and her Masters in Music from James Madison University. She has been an elementary, middle & high school choral director for 18 years & retired in 2024 after 13 years as director of the music department at VHCC (Virginia Highlands Community College).

She’s had a varied career in music. Roles have included teaching, piano accompanying for church & school choirs, bassoonist in symphonies, bass, mandolin & guitar playing in acoustic groups, singing & playing saxophone & keyboard in many Tri-Cities area bands.

She’s also been writing & performing music for many years locally and nationally including multiple performances at the Bluebird Café in Nashville, Carter Fold, Rhythm & Roots and Bluegrass Festivals including Ralph Stanley’s Festival in Coeburn VA.

Her song “Nine Days Old” won the 2010 Woody Guthrie International Folk Songwriting Contest and she performed a set of her originals at Woody Fest in Okemah OK July 15th, 2010. She placed 2nd in the IBMA’s (International Bluegrass Music Association) lesson plan contests in Nashville for both 2009 and 2010 and presented her elementary bluegrass plans at the IBMA Conference in October 2010. She won 1st in the Neuse River Songwriting Contest in 2013 with This Side of the Wall and performed at the festival near Wilmington NC. Her song Eight Lives to Spare was a winner in the Smokey Mountain Songwriting Competition in 2019 and she has placed twice in the Gathering in the Gap festival.

Currently, she’s facilitating the regional SOHA (Songwriters of Highlands Appalachia) group which meets monthly at the Southwest VA Cultural Center and Marketplace in Abingdon and leads the 2nd Saturday Songwriters Sessions monthly at the BCM in Bristol.

She’s also a professional Saxophonist currently performing with the Tri-Cities based Samantha Gray & the Jukebox Jam Band which specializes in Soul, R&B, Motown, 80’s pop and high energy fun!

She also leads the Old Time String Band class at VHCC each spring. The class is open to everyone, ages 12 and up. You may learn guitar, bass, mandolin, fiddle, banjo, dulcimer, ukulele, autoharp or hammered dulcimer in the class.

Email or call/text her for information on joining the community string band class or to learn about songwriting events. (C) 423-646-4549 mary@highlandsappalachia.org