Members of the Marshall County Strings Program rehearses AC/DC's "Back In Black" on Monday, which will be part of its "Retro Rewind" benefit concert on February 24. (Photo by Derek Redd)

The Marshall County Strings Program will get to rock out during its annual benefit concert coming Feb. 24 at the John Marshall High School Center for the Performing Arts.

The concert, “Retro Rewind,” will feature iconic musing from the 1960s through the 1980s. Guests will hear everything from classic Motown to hard rock emanate from the strings of these Marshall County musicians.

“From the educational side of things, I think it’s really important to have that broad scope of styles,” said John Marshall strings teacher Justin Jones. “And when we do these theme concerts, it’s a great opportunity to pull out non-traditional ensembles like electric instruments and really tap into the qualities in those key sounds of rock music and pop music.”

The strings program will go electric with pieces from Van Halen, Ozzy Osbourne and AC/DC, where the group will perform “Back in Black.”

The concert will benefit two groups – the Marshall County Strings Program Scholarship and the Marshall County Childhood Cancer Awareness Group. The awareness group was formed in 2016, one year after the death of JMHS student Abby Frohnapfel. The mission is to raise awareness about the lack of funding for childhood-specific cancer research.

It also aids local families dealing with childhood cancer. There have been three JMHS students lost to the disease – Frohnapfel, Cohen Pyles in 2023 and Hannah Woods in 2024. Woods’ death was especially painful for the Marshall County Strings Program. She was a member of the group and would have been a senior this year.

“It’s definitely something that’s much bigger than myself and much bigger than the program,” said JMHS senior strings member Sarah McBee. “To recognize her in that way – recognize what happened, recognize where she would be – I think it’s really beautiful that music has the capability to raise those sorts of proceeds and make a sort of change that I think is very non-traditional for music.”

The concert begins at 6:30 p.m. Feb. 24.