Submitted photo
Singer and picker Zachariah King will perform at today’s America250PA Juniata County Celebration.

McALISTERVILLE — When Zachariah King steps onto the America 250PA Juniata County Celebration stage Saturday, he won’t just be carrying a guitar.

He’ll be carrying a county. The Perry County picker and singer has built a reputation on songs that feel hand-carved from the hills he calls home, and his appearance at McAlisterville Park is set to bring that regional soul to a daylong celebration of Pennsylvania’s 250th anniversary.

King, who was named the 2024 Perry County Poet Laureate for his original “Perry County Waltz,” has spent recent years deepening his ties to the region’s musical history. His newest project, a limited-edition 45 RPM vinyl, pairs that award-winning waltz with his rendition of the 1841 folk standard “The Blue Juniata.” With only 200 copies pressed, there is certainly a nod to the handmade, small-batch spirit that defines so much of Perry County’s creative culture.

Both songs speak to the way King approaches his craft — as a storyteller first, a musician second. “The Perry County Waltz” traces the rivers, ridges and landmarks that shaped his childhood in Eshcol. It nods to the Susquehanna and Juniata, to Sherman’s Creek, to the ancient box huckleberry at Losh Run, a plant older than recorded history. The tune is a love letter to the place that raised him, written with the kind of detail that comes from someone who has spent years digging through old photographs, documents and local lore.

“The Blue Juniata,” meanwhile, connects him to a deeper American lineage. Written by Marion Dix Sullivan, it was the first commercial hit penned by an American woman and became a Civil War favorite. King’s version keeps the song’s spirit while making small updates for modern ears, including swapping an antelope reference for the more familiar white-tailed buck. He likes to imagine the original was written somewhere along the riverbanks he knows so well.

The vinyl’s presentation is as rooted in Perry County as the music itself. The cover art comes from Duncannon artist Scotty Brown, whose illustrations of county landmarks have become part of the region’s visual identity. She and King settled on “Aunt Anne’s Garden,” a painting inspired by stories of early farm life passed down through generations. Layout and design were handled by Keith Seaman, a longtime figure in the county’s creative underground.

The recording features a roster of regional collaborators — William Brown III on bass, drums and lead guitar, Dan Klinger on fiddle, and Jared McGovern on dulcimer, a tribute to the late luthier George Orthey. Sessions were tracked at Tuscarora Records and Brown Studios, engineered by Ross Kennedy, mixed by Brown and mastered by Dan Gibney.

King’s commitment to local music extends beyond his own work. He helped establish the Chubediah Memorial Music Award, honoring his late mentor Carl Lee Enyeart. The award provides $2,500 to help a young artist bring a project to life, supporting everything from recording to gear to marketing.

For King, all roads lead back to home. The songs he once thought of as barroom tunes have revealed themselves as something deeper — markers of friendships, memories and the winding path that led him from Eshcol’s backroads to stages across the region. His performances at places like the North Mountain Inn and The Pandemonium have made him a familiar face, but it’s the connection to Perry County that continues to anchor him.

That connection will be on full display today. As Juniata County marks America’s 250th anniversary with music, food and community from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. at McAlisterville Park in McAlisterville, King’s set promises to bring a piece of Perry County across the river — a reminder that history lives not only in books and monuments but in the voices of those who keep singing it forward.