Photo: Dr. Benjamin Boone, Dr. Juan Serrano and Ann Leonardo Thaxter.
Three local music legends with ties to Fresno State were honored at the Valley Music Hall of Fame dinner and show on September 20 at Roger Rocka’s Dinner Theater. They include Dr. Benjamin Boone, saxophonist, composer and professor of music; Dr. Juan Serrano Rodríguez, professor emeritus of music and Ann Leonardo Thaxter, Department of Music alumna who majored in piano.
“It was a real surprise and a tremendous honor, too,” said Boone. “I look at it, not necessarily as honoring me but… all of the people I’ve collaborated with.”
The two other honorees were Kenny Hall, fiddle and mandolin performer and Redbone, the Native American rock band who reached number five on the Billboard Top 100 charts in 1974 with their hit “Come and Get Your Love.”
The Valley Music Hall of Fame seeks to honor past and present homegrown musicians, writers, producers and promoters from the Central San Joaquin Valley.
The College of Arts and Humanities at Fresno State 