Bob Zentz Among Regional Musicians to Appear in "Nights in Rodanthe"

Major Motion Picture to be released nationwide September 26; regional premiere in Wilmington, NC, September 24

August 15, 2008 (update Sept. 20) -- Virginia traditional music icon Bob Zentz is among several regional performers who will appear in the major motion picture release “Nights in Rodanthe,” starring Richard Gere and Diane Lane, premiering nationwide late next month.

Zentz and fellow Norfolkian Jeanne McDougall join seven North Carolina musicians as members of a band playing at a post-hurricane party on the fishing pier at Rodanthe, the northern-most town on Hattaras Island and setting of the Nicholas Sparks’ bestseller on which the motion picture is based.

“Director George Wolfe is from Kentucky, and he obviously appreciates traditional music,” says Zentz. “It was great that he chose to use regional musicians for the scene.”

Zentz performs on two songs that will appear in the movie and on the CD soundtrack – the roadhouse standard “Come On Around To My House,” written by Blind Willie McTell and sung by Katy Mitchell, and the country waltz “Before I Met You,” written by Seitz, Lewis and Denny, and sung by Jule Garrish. All of the performers are associated with Soundside Records of Ocracoke Island, a label on which Zentz has recorded several albums.

A noted multi-instrumentalist, Zentz plays guitar, spoons and jew’s harp on “Come On Around To My House” with five other performers, and autoharp on “Before I Met You,” joining McDougall on mountain dulcimer, and four other musicians.

Zentz and McDougall recently wrote and scored the music for the outdoor pageant “The Stingray Point Story,” which premiered in Deltaville VA in July.

“Nights in Rodanthe” is the latest of Nicholas Sparks’ best-selling novels of the Outer Banks to be made into a movie, but the first to actually be shot there. Local production began in spring of last year, and the post-hurricane party scenes were shot in May 2007.

Following the major premiere of the movie September 21 in NYC, a regional premiere will be held on Wednesday, September 24, in Wilmington, NC, site of EUE Screen Gems Studios, where the studio tracks of the songs were recorded.

For five decades, Bob Zentz has been at the heart of the Hampton Roads traditional music scene. The Norfolk native performs internationally yet still lives and performs in his hometown, and is active in nurturing the next generation of traditional music performers, in the belief that the future of our world depends upon our youth, and music. Information about Bob's music, life, friends, performances, and programs for all ages – elementary school to elders – is available at www.bobzentz.com

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