David Holt headlines all-star concert for TV taping at the John W. Bardo Fine and Performing Arts Center, Western Carolina University

How do you create a TV show from scratch? David Holt and old friends Will and Deni McIntyre would probably tell you it takes hard work, passion, talent, determination and a bit of luck.

On Nov. 22, the McIntyres and crew will film the first live concert version of David Holt’s State of Music at Western Carolina University, for inclusion in Season Two of their now nationally distributed PBS TV show. (Tickets are now on sale for the concert; see box.)

All the performers in the live show appeared in the first season and include Holt, Rhiannon Giddens of the Carolina Chocolate Drops, multi-instrumental musician and ballad singer Josh Goforth, gospel singers Wilbur Tharpe and Lena Mae Perry performing as the Branchettes, and bluegrass super group Balsam Range.

“Having Rhiannon in the TV show and now on the live show is a huge thing. She’s really hitting her stride, and many people nationally are getting to know her,” Holt said from his home in Fairview. “It was such a great show and Will or someone said, we should put it on stage. On the show, I don’t get to play as much, and it’s not like the incredible energy you get in a live concert where everybody is doing their very best. There are no second takes in a live concert.”

The show first aired on North Carolina Public Television Jan. 29. But Holt’s no stranger to television. The four-time Grammy Award winner loves the excitement of live shows and recalls his first big success as a TV host, on the Nashville Network’s “Fire on the Mountain,” filmed live at the Stompin’ Ground in Maggie Valley. With 95 half hour shows aired, Holt worked with most everyone, making a name for himself in bluegrass or traditional music. And set the stage for popular “Folkways” series on UNC-TV.

“‘Folkways’ has been great for me — they have played it nonstop for 30 years,” Holt said. “I can watch and see all those great people we were lucky enough to tape; many have passed away and it’s wonderful to see that memory.”

Current host of the PBS series “Great Scenic Railway Journeys,” other shows he has hosted include “Celebration Express” and “American Music Shop.” He’s also been a frequent guest on “Hee-Haw,” “Nashville Now” and “The Grand Ole Opry” and appeared in the movie “O Brother Where Art Thou.”

Meeting and performing with his musical heroes has shaped Holt’s life, such as visits to Mt. Airy fiddler Tommy Jarrell and Madison County ballad singer Delli Norton. At the top of his fine memories list sits Doc Watson.

“It’s the little things like riding down the road, taking him to breakfast,” Holt said of his late musical partner. “On stage you had to be on your toes; Doc never played the same thing the same way twice. I admired him so much and learned from him.”

But while “Folkways” focused on traditional craftsmen and musicians from the Southern Mountains, the new series paints a broader picture and strays to the national market. Shot on location around North Carolina throughout 2014, the series follows Holt as he meets, interviews and performs with both old timers and rising stars.

“David and Deni and I have been friends for 40 years. We met at WCU when I was the bass player in Marc Pruett’s band,” Will McIntyre said. “David was this new guy who came to visit. I invited everyone to a party afterwards.”

That was in 1974, and they have been friends ever since, sometimes working together on State Department tours to South America with both wives participating — Deni singing and Ginny Callaway dancing.

“After Doc died, David was more flexible, off the road more than he had been,” Deni said. “We got together and said we should do a project.”

The amount of work was staggering. Besides planning, filming and editing, they had to raise every cent to produce the show. Several independent fundraising campaigns have given them more than 500 supporters.

The show began as a one-hour special, but the head programmer at UNC-TV suggested that he had many more 30-minute slots than one-hour slots and asked why didn’t they make it into a series. That first hourlong special became three shows, then a series.

Based in Hendersonville, the McIntyres are award-winning documentary filmmakers and photographers who have traveled in more than 80 countries working for film agencies, corporations, magazines and nonprofits. They are currently shooting the second season, which will include artists who are not in North Carolina. It became all the more special when the new George Brown, appointed dean of the College of Fine and Performing Arts at Western Carolina University a year ago, called his old alumni to offer this concert opportunity.

“We were able to get everyone to come in because it’s the week before Thanksgiving, so everyone is coming back home from tours,” Deni McIntyre said. “Balsam Range, they are here. Bruce Molsky couldn’t make it, Bryan Sutton couldn’t make it, but everybody else can. Rhiannon is bringing Dirk Powell and her bass player Jason Sipher.”

Giddens’ meteoric rise from a young string band artist in the Carolina Chocolate Drops to a torch singer celebrating her heroines like Patsy Cline, Sister Rosetta Tharpe, Geeshie Wiley, and Dolly Parton on her 2015 CD, “Tomorrow Is My Turn,” produced by T. Bone Burnett, has brought national celebrity, a spot on David Letterman and international tours, making her appearance in this show all the more special.

“Hopefully I will be able to edit it into a two-hour show, maybe make it a one-hour special for public television,” Deni McIntyre mused. “We’ll be shooting the audience too, so everyone should be ready. We have overhead cameras like ‘Austin City Limits.’”

Carol Rifkin writes about Appalachian culture for the Citizen-Times. Email her at CMRifkin@gmail.com.

IF YOU GO

“David Holt’s State of Music ― Live,” featuring David Holt, Rhiannon Giddens, Josh Goforth, Balsam Range and Wilbur Tharpe and Lena Mae Perry as The Branchettes, will be at 3 p.m. Nov. 22 at the John W. Bardo Fine and Performing Arts Center, at Western Carolina University, 199 Centennial Drive, Cullowhee. Tickets are $45 orchestra, $35 club and balcony. Call 227-2479 or visit http://bardoartscenter.wcu.edu.