Musicians from across Jackson County have come together to record a one-of-a-kind album to celebrate the wide variety of music found locally and help raise funds for the construction of a new Jackson County library.

A year in the making, The Sounds of Jackson County features the Webster Christian Harmony Singers, the gospel groups Heaven Bound Quartet, Bound by Grace, and the Liberty Baptist Church singers; mountain music with The Fiddling Dills Sisters, The Pirates of Tuckaseigee, and Matt Stillwell; blues from The Timber Rattlers and Karen “Suger” Barnes; and contemporary singer/songwriters Ashley Chambliss and Chris Cooper perform contemporary ballads.

Rounding out the album are Western Carolina University’s Indonesian Gamelan group Gamelan Gunung Biru (“Blue Ridge Gamelan”), jazz with Andrea Wlosokova Adamcova and Pavel Wlosok, and the Smoky Mountain Brass Quintet.

These groups will be featured in a concert to be held at 7 p.m., Jan. 10 at the Fine and Performing Arts Center on the Western Carolina University Campus.

Western faculty and staff who work at the Center for Applied Technolog are producing the Sounds of Jackson County CD. Dr. Bruce Frazier, the Carol Grotnes Belk Distinguished Professor of Commercial and Electronic Music at Western, Pat Acheson, Director of Studio Operations, and recording engineers John Wells and Stephen Wohlrab have worked with students throughout the year to record these musical groups who make Jackson County their home.

Reproduction of the CD has been made possible by United Community Bank.