Raised in Enfield, Bradley began learning guitar at age 6 and started performing professionally at age 14. His musical influences include Merle Haggard, Marty Robbins, George Jones, Conway Twitty, Gene Watson and Elvis Presley. He mixes comedy with his country music. Bradley has been a cast member of “The Grand Ol’ Opry” since 1994. Bradley has been a funeral director since 1991 and his motto is “You’ve got to be crazy to keep from going insane.”
The Willie P. Richardson Show is a “clean,” family-oriented program which may be enjoyed by audiences of all ages. Tickets for the event are priced at $12 advance and will be $15 at the door on the date of the performance. Tickets are available in Hamlet at Seaboard Station Restaurant; in Rockingham at WLWL Radio, Guitar Stuff and Hudson Brothers Deli and in Ellerbe at Ellerbe Pharmacy. Tickets may be ordered by phone at 1–888–218–6464.
Heritage Festival
The distinctive imprint Native American culture has left on North Carolina’s piedmont will be celebrated Saturday, June 28 at Town Creek Indian Mound State Historic Site in Mt. Gilead. From 12 to 7 p.m., the site will present its annual Native American Heritage Festival featuring dancing, singing and drumming. Adults will be charged a $3 admission fee but children 12 and under and seniors are free.
Dancing begins at noon with a grand entry ceremony and festivities will continue throughout the day. No alternative rain date is scheduled for this event.
For more than a thousand years before white settlers arrived here, Native Americans farmed lands in what later became known as central North Carolina. Around 1200 A.D., a new cultural tradition arose in the Pee Dee River Valley. On a bluff overlooking the intersection of Town Creek and Little River, the Pee Dee people established a political and ceremonial center. Besides being a major settlement, Town Creek was where matters important to the clans were discussed and the significant religious ceremonies and feasts held. Many high-ranking tribe members lived, died and were buried there.
Archaeological excavations began at Town Creek in 1937 and continued for the next 50 years. A national historic landmark, the Town Creek site is the only state historic site in North Carolina dedicated to Native American heritage.
Town Creek Indian Mound is located on Town Creek Mound Road approximately five miles east of Mt Gilead between N.C. 73 and N.C. 731. For questions, contact the site at 910-439-6802 or tcim@ac.net. For more information, check out our web site at www.ah.dcr.state.nc.us/sections/hs/town.htm.
