In certain circles, Linda Hunsucker is known as the possum lady. Last weekend, I got to see why.
On a balmy Saturday evening that was threatening rain, three dozen or so music lovers gathered in an unassuming building in Maiden, just across the road from Westside Baptist Church. Linda Hunsucker and her husband, John, rent the space for their artistic pursuits.
The crowd brought crab salad, barbecue, biscuits, peach cobbler and their instruments. After everyone was fed, the musicians circled up and began to play.
"Just a Closer Walk with Thee" was the first song in a mix of country and gospel favorites. Mostly older gentlemen, the pickers also included a teenage boy, a middle-aged woman with beautiful harmony, and, of course, the possum lady.
At almost every jam, as these gatherings are called, Hunsucker sings a song about a possum, caught in headlights, who becomes dinner.
Although she and her husband host the monthly jams, Hunsucker said she's not much of a musician herself. She has tried the mandolin and the fiddle, among other instruments, with John's encouragement. "I made him buy me some wooden spoons one time," she said, "and he decided they drove him crazy."
Hunsucker said she likes to talk too much to be able to practice an instrument. At the jam, she made her way from corner to corner, greeting old friends and introducing newcomers.
She and John also gave informal tours of the space, which is part stage, part recording studio and part art gallery. As they have become more involved with local musicians, the Hunsuckers have reached out to young people in the Hickory and Maiden areas.
They recently started a nonprofit corporation, the Catawba Valley Music Revival, to support local talent. This summer, they will host the Coot Williams Road Bluegrass Festival, featuring Rhonda Vincent, in Cherryville.
"It just kinda spins off on its own," Hunsucker said of her and John's involvement in the local music scene.
The roots of the monthly jam session can be traced back to Hunsucker's family. When an aunt died in 1997, Hunsucker said, the funeral gave her a chance to get reacquainted with her cousins.
"Why do we only see each other when it's a sad occasion?" she wondered. So Hunsucker, along with her mother and sister, began to organize gatherings in the summertime.
John, whom she met in 2001, introduced new musicians to the group, and soon they were meeting on a regular basis to play. When the crowd got bigger, they moved to their current digs in Maiden. Now the event is a potluck supper that starts at 6 p.m. on the first Saturday of every month.
The combination of food and music is what brought the Hunsuckers together, too. On their second date, John cooked Linda a steak dinner. "Then he got that guitar out, and I was a goner," she said. They were married in 2003 at a hoedown on Coot Williams Road.
Now the Hunsuckers are known for supporting musicians by giving older pickers a place to play and younger ones a comfortable space in which to practice.
But even when they're not in Maiden, people recognize them. Hunsucker said she was recently at a bluegrass festival when she heard someone say, "Hey, there's the possum lady."
For more on the Coot Williams Road Bluegrass Festival, go to www.catawbavalleymusicrevival.com.
Erica Batten
