Two students at Bell County High School will have a unique opportunity this fall. As part of the teen Bluegrass band Southern Skye, Alex Hensley and Ben Jenkins will perform at Dollywood's Bluegrass & BBQ Festival which takes place September 15-27.

Other performers at the festival include Ricky Skaggs, The Cherryholmes Family, The Del McCoury Band, The Chapmans, Marty Raybon, as well as Ralph Stanley and many more.

Southern Skye was formed about two years ago by Hensley and Jenkins. Hensley plays rhythm guitar and sings lead vocals, and Jenkins plays banjo and dobro and sings harmony vocals.

The two young musicians recruited Alex Leach, a 17-year old DJ with WDVX in Knoxville, to play mandolin. Fourteen-year-old Chris Castle from Paintsville, Ky., plays bass, and 18-year-old Heather Norwood from Fordsville, Ky. rounds out the group on fiddle.

The band plays a mixture of traditional and contemporary bluegrass, as well as their own original material. Hensley's grandfather, Stacy Smith of Middlesboro, wrote many of the originals, and Jenkins has written a couple as well.

Jenkins and Hensley have worked with or gotten advice from many musicians in the bluegrass profession, including Pete Wernick with Hot Rize, Don Rigsby, Steve Gulley with Mountain Heart, and Dale Ann Bradley, among others. Locally, James Hamilton, Phillip Powers, and all the members of The Cumberland Gap Connection have also helped them.

In the past two years, Jenkins and Hensley have performed at The Stringbean Memorial Festival, The Cumberland Gap Festival, Webb's Country Kitchen, WQLA in Lafollette, Tenn., the Tennessee Valley Fair in Knoxville, NIBROC Festival in Corbin, Ky., and many other smaller festivals. They have also entertained volunteers at Clear Creek Bible College, and have performed at Cooter's Place in Gatlinburg, Tenn., with Ben “Cooter” Jones, and with Gary “Biscuit” Davis, who is Dolly Parton's former band manager. They also have played at several schools to introduce Bluegrass to young people.

One of the highlights of their musical career was playing at Silver Dollar City in Branson, Mo.

In addition to the group and duo performances, Jenkins is currently playing with the Kentucky Opry Junior Pros at the Mountain Arts Center in Prestonsburg, Ky.

He and Hensley, along with the rest of Southern Skye, say they look forward to playing all 12 days during Dollywood's Bluegrass & BBQ Festival (Sept. 15-27), and look forward to seeing some familiar faces from their hometown in their audiences.

For bookings or further information about Southern Skye call 337-8308, or 606-524-3770, e-mail them at jinxy1208@msn.com, or visit their new website at www.southernskye.org.