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Media Contacts: Bett Padgett, 919/834-4636 or [email protected]
[email protected]>Kevin Potter, NC State News Services, 919/515-3470 or
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Nov. 9, 1999
NC State University Instructor to Sing at Nov. 13 Hatteras Relighting
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
This summer, North Carolina State University guitar instructor Bett Padgett produced the CD Hatteras: If a Lighthouse Could Speak... to celebrate the successful relocation of North Carolina's famous Outer Banks sentinel. When the lighthouse is relit on Saturday, Nov. 13, Padgett will perform a ballad from the CD to mark the occasion.
The relighting ceremony will take place outside Buxton on the original site of the 208-foot-tall beacon. The lighthouse, built in 1870, was moved 2,900 feet from the eroding shoreline this summer to prevent its destruction from the encroaching Atlantic Ocean.
The Hatteras CD, which is Padgett's third, was born out of the controversy surrounding the efforts to move the lighthouse. She researched the story of the lighthouse, and took an interest in both sides of the argument. "I struck upon a series of chords that had a haunting and beautiful melody," Padgett says. "Before I knew it, I was singing the words 'I am a lighthouse.'"
Padgett's studies introduced her to members of the Outer Banks Lighthouse Society, which advocated the relocation of the lighthouse. After much inquiry, Padgett concluded that the lighthouse had to be relocated to avoid its eventual and ultimate destruction from the volatile shoreline. The citizens of Dare County disagreed, however. "Many of the locals would rather see it fall into the ocean than to move it," says Padgett. "These people have such a sentimental attachment to the lighthouse that seeing it somewhere else kills them."
The CD's title song, "Hatteras: If a Lighthouse Could Speak," provoked such a strong response that she was invited to attend a public hearing in Manteo. Padgett was apprehensive at first, but the experience proved to be valuable. "The trip and experience left me with another impression of the emotions involved in the relocation of the light," she says. "I could see the feelings of the people of Dare County and realized their side of the debate in moving it."
Following the hearing, Padgett wrote "The Light Shines," to represent the different viewpoints of everyone who was passionate about the lighthouse. "I wanted to validate each side of the argument with my music," says Padgett. "I feel that music can aid in the recovery process when one has lost something dear to them."
Padgett made several return trips to Hatteras Island, and several more songs were spawned from her meetings with the locals there. "I met people who had spent their lives looking at the lighthouse through their bedroom window at night and seeing it in the morning when they woke up," says Padgett. "These people had centered their entire lives around this historical monument, and moving it was a total shock to their lives.
"Meeting the people who had grown up with the lighthouse was valuable because it provided me with a sense of its history and its impact," says Padgett, who believes that her music represents many different sides of the relocation issue.
Padgett, whose tunes and lyrics pay tribute to the traditional sounds of America, Scotland, Ireland and England, has been affecting listeners since 1989 when she began to write her own music and perform it on North Carolina stages. She released her first CD, More Than Time, in July 1997 after receiving a grant from the United Arts Council of North Carolina.
Padgett later took a European vacation that had her chasing ancient legends through Wales, Scotland, Switzerland and France. Many of the stories that she encountered became the focus of her second CD, Trefalen.
Her Hatteras CD is a compilation of different sounds from 'classical folk' to bluesy hip-hop. Padgett enlisted the musical talents of a few NC State musicians, both students and professors, to add depth to the unique sound of her CD. After careful review by National Park Service historians, the CD was put on sale at the National Park Bookstore at the site.
Padgett has presented a copy to Gov. Jim Hunt and has seen her work featured on radio stations across the United States and in Australia. She has become a board member of the Outer Banks Lighthouse Society, which allowed her to visit the lighthouse during the relocation process.
Fifty percent of the CD sales will be donated to the Cape Hatteras National Seashore through the Outer Banks Lighthouse Society. More information about the CD is available on the Web at www.bettpadgett.com. Information about the relighting ceremony is at www.nps.gov/caha/capehatteras.htm.
"It is thrilling to me to be able to play a role in this exciting piece of our history," says Padgett. "I believe that my CD has heightened awareness of the lighthouse, and that was my original goal."
-- herrman --
NOTE TO EDITORS: A color photo of Bett Padgett is available by calling NC State News Services at (919) 515-3470, or it can be downloaded by going to the current releases section on the News Services Web site at http://www2.ncsu.edu/ncsu/univ_relations/release.html.
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