Appalachian Trail Bluegrass Band

Appalachian Trail
	(L-R) Josh Goforth - Glen Rose - Vickie Austin Tim Laughlin - Tommy Austin

 
The members of Appalachian Trail include:

• Tommy Austin, a native of Fall Branch, Tennessee, is no stranger to the bluegrass community. He started playing guitar and singing as a boy in local churches. Later, he moved to mandolin when he became interested in the bluegrass sound.
  
  Tommy helped organize the “Rising Wind” band, which toured extensively in the 1980s and 1990s, as well as “Tennessee Skyline”, both of which made highly acclaimed recordings. Tommy has recorded with several groups, including; Ray Harper, Carl Story, the Hopson Family, Trey Hensley, and the Linda Lay Cracker Barrel project.
  
  He currently sings lead and harmony, plays mandolin and mandola, and shares the songwriting and arranging with the other members of Appalachian Trail. 
   
• Tim Laughlin is a name you probably recognize. Hailing from Bristol, Virginia, Tim has worked with many of the greats in bluegrass music. While Doyle Lawson was recuperating from heart surgery, Tim filled in for the group on mandolin. He has also played with the likes of Jim and Jesse, Lynn Morris, Dale Ann Bradley, and many others.
  
  Doing his part to continue the tradition, Tim teaches mandolin during the day. With Appalachian Trail, Tim shines on the fiddle, guitar, mandolin, and harmony vocals. 
   
• Glen Rose, from Jonesborough, Tennessee, has been playing banjo for the past thirty years.
  
  Starting at the age of ten, he took banjo lessons from his cousin, the late Buddy Rose. By twelve, Glen, along with his brother, John, formed the bluegrass group, the Rose Brothers, and performed on the Martha White Bluegrass Caravan festival circuit.
  
  By age fourteen, Glen and brother John performed on the Grand Ole Opry as special guests of the late Lester Flatt. Since then, Glen has done his own banjo album, and has worked on many projects for other groups.
  
  He also has been a part of the ETSU bluegrass program and performed in Russia at the International Folk Festival in Moscow. Glen has taught banjo for the past twenty-three years and is a member of Appalachian Trail, playing banjo and singing harmony. 
   
• Vickie Austin has been singing for audiences since age six, when she caught the performing bug by winning two dollars in school talent show. After learning how to play by watching her grandmother chord an old pump organ, Vickie became her church’s pianist at age thirteen.
  
  Traveling to local churches in the East Tennessee/ Southwest Virginia area as the Page Sisters, Vickie developed an extensive vocal range. Eventually joining Twin Springs Bluegrass Band, Vickie honed her skills on the upright bass.
  
  Singing lead with Twin Springs, the band won several competitions, opened for several professional acts including Loretta Lynn, and participated in a recording for the Carter Fold, produced by Tom T. Hall. Vickie contributes lead and harmony vocals, upright bass, and songwriting to Appalachian Trail. 
   
• Josh Goforth, a native of Madison County, North Carolina, has been playing for audiences eighteen of his twenty-two years. He majors in music education at East Tennessee State University, where he has been an active member of the senior ETSU Bluegrass Band.
  
  Josh has toured in nine foreign countries, and most every state in the US. He performs occasionally with David Holt, Laura Boosinger, and many others. He also maintains a busy teaching schedule of private lessons and he also lectures at universities.
  
  Twice crowned “Fiddler of the Festival” at Fiddler’s Grove competition, he has won many other prestigious awards. With Appalachian Trail, Josh plays guitar, fiddle, and banjo, sings lead and harmony, and contributes his songwriting skills.

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