Since she was a child, Elizabeth Branham has always had music.

Whether it was singing in a youth group, playing piano or playing in a hand bell choir, there was music. “Music has always been a passionate outlet for me,” she said at the Roanoke Rapids Theatre, the venue she and Gil Cunningham, a noted talent buyer, will be running.

A CD in the car on a bad day, she said, and, “The mood instantly becomes a little lighter. Having older siblings, I’ve always liked all genres of music.”

With the promoter’s choice for the first show at the theater being the popular string band Old Crow Medicine Show, Branham is expanding her tastes and has found the group is known by some here. “I’ve had people say to me that’s great. Some people have said who. This is a show that will draw  an audience, will draw fans. It shows what the original vision is for this. Community attendance is not what will pay the bills. It’s a regional entertainment venue. Old Crow Medicine Show is out of the box and something locals have an interest in and will draw people from all over the region.”

With a love for music, Branham was on the sidelines during the birth of Carolina Crossroads, but not as a promoter or event manager.

She has carried an insurance license for 21 years. “Risk management and insurance consulting always fascinated me.”

The knowledge of organization and logistics would eventually bring her a new career as entertainment director for the Carolina Crossroads outdoor amphitheater.

She was drawn to this not for the glitz but because she saw it as a community resource. “My favorite part was to go to the back of the stage where people couldn’t see me and watch people have a good time. There were couples on a first date. Husbands and wives who were having difficult times going there to get away from it all.”

She remembers one show and a woman who attended. “It was the first time she had been out since her husband passed away. It was intoxicating to me.”

Then things fell apart.

“I have said my position will be not to look back any more,” when asked what went wrong. “Everyone started with great intentions.”

Then the economy tanked. “The spiraling economy helped line this up for the perfect storm.”

When the outdoor venue all but shut down and the theater went through Randy Parton, a management company and Lafayette Gatling, the city began looking.

Rumors swirled Branham would be the one to bring the theater back. It was not as simple as her just saying she would accept the job. “My most incredible job is that of being a mother,” she said. “When serving in a public capacity you are going to have your critics and have your advocates.”

The decision, she said, “Was made through a lot of prayer and family meetings.”

One of her daughters convinced and encouraged her to do this because she believed her mother had a gift to give the community.

That gift came through the contacts in Nashville she made working as entertainment director of Carolina Crossroads for three years. One of her first contacts was David Corlew, the manager of the Charlie Daniels Band who she remains friends with.

“It’s a hard business,” she said and, surprisingly to those outside the circle, “The people who are most successful are humble people and have strong integrity. One thing I learned is these people I have met are like you and me. God has blessed them with a special gift. The gift of music.”

The general response to Branham and Cunningham running the theater has been positive. She agrees the most logical option will be for the city to sell the venue. “That can’t be realized with the doors closed.”

As the contract is being worked out and the city does a technical inventory, one aspect of the theater may be something no one realized and that is live recordings. “There is the opportunity for live recordings.”

Branham also sees not just music, but theatrical productions. speakers for corporate events, events, she says, “That will really stretch the legs of this theater.”

She plans to have an open house and job fair at the venue.

Mostly, she said, “We want to help an asset for the city shine that otherwise would be sitting in limbo.”