Published: May 19, 2009 10:22 pm      

Area native to perform with Kingsmen in Bluefield

When the Kingsmen, an award-winning southern gospel group, steps center stage Thursday at Bluefield Auditorium, Cody McVey will be at the piano.

McVey, an Alderson native, signed with the Kingsmen earlier this year and has just wrapped up a 27-day tour with the group to California.

“I am very excited to be with a such a well known, much respected group as the Kingsmen,” McVey said.

“We’ll do 200 dates,” McVey said in discussing the Kingmen’s 2009 tour.

The 18-year-old McVey is no stranger to touring with a well known gospel group. He was the featured soloist with the Monument Quartet on its Faith and Family Tour in 2007.

McVey began playing the piano when he was 11 years. With only two years of formal lessons, the gifted teenager has been a soloist at the Gaither Homecoming Tour in Charleston and Roanoke, Va., as well as at a number of venues in West Virginia, including The Greenbrier, Carnegie Hall, the State Fair of West Virginia and the Governor’s Mansion.

He also has performed in Branson, Mo., Dollywood, at the National Quartet Convention and on cruise ships. Next month, he will make a return appearance as a soloist at the American Baptist Biennial in Pasadena, Calif.

McVey’s first CD, “Gettin’ Ready,” was released in 2007 and was followed by an equally successful Christmas album, “O Holy Night.”

“I’ve signed with the Horizon label and will do another solo album with them,” McVey added in pointing to the Asheville, N.C.-based recording company.

When he has a free weekend, McVey returns to the Mountain State to spend time with family and friends, including his sister, 11-year-old Eva Marie McVey, a talented vocalist who occasionally joins her brother in his solo appearances.

The Kingsmen’s concert at the Bluefield Auditorium is slated for 7 p.m. Thursday.