The Spartanburg Music Trail now has 24 inductees, such as former New York Philharmonic director Carlos Moseley. Photo courtesy of the Spartanburg Philharmonic.
The next time you’re in downtown Spartanburg, especially if you have never been or if it’s been a while, you might want to consider a ¾-mile walk along the city’s music trail – especially since it just grew by two names.
While there aren’t any specific directional arrows, you’ll find plenty of signposts along West Main Street and Broad Street, and all you have to do is follow them – from one noted musician to another.
“The 24 musicians noted along the trail are very unique and can be very famous in their own genre/field,” said Kathryn Boucher, executive director of the Spartanburg Philharmonic, which has supported the Trail since its beginnings in 2011 with the Hub City Writers Project. “Two musicians are featured on each sign along the trail which includes a wide variety of musical genres.”
The latest come from both the classical world and bluegrass.
Violinist and violist Miles Hoffman not only brought virtuoso playing to orchestral music, but a certain degree of ‘cool’ to the whole world of strings and bows.
Prior to his untimely death in 2023 from leukemia, Hoffman regularly toured the U.S. with his founding group The American Chamber Players – and his classical music comments for NPR’s flagship news program, Morning Edition, was heard by a national audience of 14 million.
“I knew Miles when he was a professor at Converse College,” Boucher said. “And before his death a few years ago, he was best known for his ‘Minutes with Miles’ segment on National Public Radio.”
In similar fashion, banjoist Kristin Scott Benson of Boiling Springs needs no introduction to bluegrass listeners: she has not only won nearly every available banjo honor multiple times – such as the International Bluegrass Music Association Banjo Player of the Year – she is considered one of the first female virtuosos to drive a group, The Grascals, with her five-string banjo.
“Kristin is a spitfire and a powerhouse – very impressive,” Boucher said. “And several years ago, she won the Steve Martin prize for banjo player of the year, and is in the American Banjo Hall of Fame.”
Benson and Hoffman are paired together on a signpost along E. Main Street at Denny’s Plaza.
But as Boucher pointed out, their induction simply means they have now joined a growing trail of noted area musicians.
Some are obscure in plain sight – such as Metropolitan opera soprano Gianna Rolandi, 1920s moaner Clara Smith, and 1920s bluesman Pink Anderson, one of the inspirations in the name of the rock group Pink Floyd.
Others are known by work that superseded them – such as Billy Walker, who codified a musical arrangement still used today for the hymn ‘Amazing Grace.’
And one has made a superstar name and sound of its own – The Marshall Tucker Band.
But if you want to see the full trail, which runs in the shape of a box guitar, a late-morning stroll might provide more than just daily exercise and a noon lunch.
““Our goal is to have two new inductees every two years,” Boucher said. “The Spartanburg Philharmonic is the custodian of the Spartanburg Music Trail, and we welcome nominations for future inductees.”
