‘I just wanted to make the community better’
Story by Jed Keith
SOMERSET, KENTUCKY (July 8, 2025) — To talk to John Wilson is to talk to a man with humility about what he means to the Master Musicians Festival (MMF) and the Somerset-Pulaski County community. And maybe he doesn’t know just what he means to the festival, which, in a way, makes him an ideal choice for its 2025 Lifetime Achievement Award.
Wilson’s training is as a certified public accountant, with over four decades of experience, having once run his own accounting business in the Lake Cumberland area. He eventually joined the team at Lifeline Home Care in Somerset and currently serves as its Chief Financial Officer. However, it’s clear that he has long had a desire to use his talents within the arts community.
During the 1990s, Wilson was heavily involved with the Lake Cumberland Performing Arts Series, serving as a board member, treasurer, vice president, and eventually as president of the organization.
“During the year I was president, it was my responsibility to solicit suggestions and propose LCPA’s performance season to be approved by the board,” Wilson explained. “[As] president, [I] was arranging school shows and workshops.”
How he became involved in the series was simple — “I was asked,” he said matter-of-factly. Wilson enjoys live performances and said this was a way to bring quality entertainment to local audiences, including schools.
“That, and I like to help,” he added.
It was his involvement with the Performing Arts Series that prompted MMF Founder Gabrielle Gray to approach Wilson about working with the festival in 1995, in MMF’s early stages.
Gray asked Wilson to serve on the festival’s board of directors, knowing both Wilson’s acumen in all things economics and, more importantly, his clear love of the arts from his work with the Performing Arts Series.
Wilson poured his passion for the arts into the success of this annual festival, serving in various leadership roles during his tenure.
“I did whatever they needed of me,” Wilson said. “I was on the board, I served as vice president, and I was president for a short time.”
But it was not just in leadership capacities where Wilson focused his efforts; he contributed to whatever service the festival might require.
“I helped with finance and in a treasurer role,” he said, which can be no small undertaking for a festival with so many moving parts. “I helped with announcements and introductions of musical acts, just whatever was needed.”
As a board member, Wilson had the opportunity to bring acts to Somerset that residents might not have otherwise had the chance to see.
“I followed a musician when I was in college named Jimmy Thackery,” he recalled, “a member of a Washington-based band called The Nighthawks.” Wilson knew talent, and when he learned Thackery was playing with a popular band in Arkansas, he knew he would fit into the festival’s vibe.
“I talked Gabrielle [Gray] into getting him to come here,” he recounted, leading to Thackery becoming the Friday night closing act that year. “It was an awesome show.”
Raising awareness about musical acts like Thackery is important to Wilson, as he reflected on why the Master Musicians Festival holds such significance for him.
“I listen to a lot of music,” Wilson said. “It’s just my way of trying to make a better community.”
The attention to cultivating culture in the community is one of the reasons Wilson thinks MMF means so much to the Somerset-Pulaski County area.
“It exposes a variety of types of music to a lot of people, including young people,” he continued, “giving our people so many things to see and do that the festival provides.”
And that genuine love of community is exactly why Wilson was chosen as this year’s MMF Lifetime Achievement Award recipient, Executive Director Tiffany Finley said.
“When I was asked to lead MMF 16 years ago, I truly had no idea what I was doing,” Finley said. “One of the first people I was introduced to was John Wilson, then handling MMF’s books and a former board member.”
Finley credited Wilson with helping her adjust to and fill her new role.
“At a time when the organization was facing uncertainty, John welcomed me with kindness, offered steady guidance, and helped me find my footing,” she said.
His caring hand reflects, yet again, Wilson’s devotion to helping the community and ensuring the festival’s continued legacy.
“John has always understood that the festival is bigger than any one of us, that it’s something we’re entrusted to care for the time we’re given to serve,” she explained.
Wilson’s commitment to service and his way of embracing the joy of the festival embody what MMF is all about.
“To this day, after 32 years, I can still look out into the crowd and see John and [his wife] Mickey dancing, smiling, and living the spirit of MMF,” Finley said. “That commitment and love for the festival is exactly why John is the perfect choice for our 2025 Lifetime Achievement Award.”
A love of service and community. That’s John Wilson, living the spirit of MMF.
John Wilson will be honored with the MMF Lifetime Achievement Award at 5:20 p.m. Saturday, July 12, on the Horse Soldier Bourbon main stage.
