The Heritage Bridge Award   The 4th Annual Heritage Bridge Award will be presented to: Harold Williamson   Join us for the award presentation in the Arts Center at 7:00 P.M. just before the performance of Harold Williamson and the New Wondering Souls.   Born in Beam’s Mill near Fallston, Harold Williamson remembers that his mother told him when they would walk several miles into Shelby to go to church: “If you’ll be thankful and grateful for a few things, He will make you ruler over many.” From his early beginnings he understood hard work in his contracting business with members of his family. He was an athlete at the three-room Hopewell Elementary School and later at Cleveland High School. He remembers that people prayed for him to sing and that by the time he was in high school he began to be interested in singing in a big way.

From those family and church singing engagements and his contracting business with local roots, he traveled with family members to New York and plied his trades of contracting and music there. In 1968 he made his first record with his band, the Wondering Souls, on Savoy Records. In 1986 his record of “The Ground is Level at the Foot of the Cross” became a Gospel hit, garnering big awards.

Harold Williamson and the Wondering Souls with Harold as the lead singer and songwriter have shared stages with Shirley Caesar, Mighty Clouds of Joy, James Cleveland, and many other greats of gospel. They have played the famed Apollo Theater and many other places around the country.

In the 1990’s Harold moved back to Shelby and recreated his band, the New Wondering Souls, with Shelby musicians. Their 2006 CD is called “Hooked On God’s Love” and almost all the songs were written by Harold. His music is uplifting, although it often touches on hardships that he and others face. In performance and on record the sound is big and full and dynamic.

Harold is exactly the kind of artist that the Heritage Bridge Award was envisioned for. He has achieved regional and national recognition and has produced high level of artistry over a long career but he is not well known by everyone in the community that helped shape him. He is continuing to bring his music back to Cleveland County and to inspire people with his praise and
encouraging presence.

He has volunteered his time to visit and sing with students at North Shelby School. When he first moved back to Shelby, he and long time friend and guitarist William Cord performed for and sang with special needs students at the school. “That was great because they sang with us and some of them couldn’t really talk,” Harold said.

A major accomplishment that he is proud of is his mentoring of younger musicians and friends. In this way he embodies the spirit of the award to pass the torch on to the next generations. Harold Williamson is truly a bridge from past to present, from young to old and from the experience of a rural and small town minority background to the wider world – to all of us.

The Festival's first ever award, in 2005, went to career musician, teacher, and guitar maker Ray Ledford of Lawndale for his contribution to the art of sound in Cleveland County and beyond. The 2006 award went to Horace Scruggs, a Cleveland County native who played guitar for nearly 80 years and was an influence to, and mentor for several generations of musicians. The 2007 Heritage Bridge Award was presented to Frank Love, Jr., long time Cleveland County resident, trumpet player since the 8th grade and ambassador to Big Band Music.