Ellington

Just when you thought things couldn't get any hotter this summer, Pryor and the Tombstones will heat up the stage as the featured performers at the C Spire Summer Music Series at The Cedars Aug. 16. Held the third Thursday of each summer month through August, each concert in the series has a different theme. August's theme is "Delta Honky Tonk Night."

Lead singer Pryor Buford Graeber and keyboardist Lee Buford Threadgill are sisters from Glendora, Miss. Rounding out the ground are Jacksonian Lynn Pearson on bass, Greenwood native Vic Blaylock on lead guitar and Monroe, La., native Blair Bingham on rhythm guitar. They started the group in 2000 and cover artists ranging from Pink Floyd to Marvin Gaye as well as blues and country music.

Graeber and Threadgill have been singing since they were young. Their mother, Gwin Buford, was a professional opera singer, and Graeber remembers her sister mouthing the words to the Italian songs until their mom invited her to sing along. During one of the next concerts, Graeber and all three of her sisters performed with their mom.

"I would love to open for Miranda Lambert and her husband, Blake," Graeber says. If she could perform anywhere in the world, it would be the Country Music Awards. Keeping with the country music theme, Threadgill, a Vanderbilt graduate, wants to open for country music star Alan Jackson.

The band members like to reminisce about the music business's ups and downs. Once, Pryor and the Tombstones were scheduled to perform from 8 p.m. until midnight at Hal and Mal's Red Room. Until about 10 p.m., the place was packed. Then the band decided to take a break. When they resumed, the audience had thinned out. "People our age go to sleep at 10," Bingham says. "From that concert on, we played from 6 until 10."

Pryor and the Tombstones played at Jubilee!JAM in 2003, and they were honored just to see their name on the same poster as Bob Dylan. These days, Underground 119 is more their scene. They also perform at various charity events such as A Taste of Mississippi. 
 "We like to be the volunteer band," Graeber says. "When it's down to the wire, and a venue is looking for a band, we volunteer to perform."

The last C Spire Summer Music Series concert featuring Pryor and the Tombstones at The Cedars (4145 Old Canton Road) is Aug. 16. The free performance is 6 p.m.-9 p.m.