Appalachian storyteller Donald Davis is like a fine wine. He gets better with age.

And, those who have heard the Dean of Storytelling would agree that he is better than fine wine because his stories can be absorbed and savored for a lifetime.

Davis will be back at the Pike Piddles Storytelling Festival this weekend to celebrate the festival’s milestone 10th year.

“When the Brundidge Historical Society started the Pike Piddles Storytelling Festival, I don’t think any of us thought it would be around 10 years later,” said Johnny Steed a member of the storytelling committee. “Donald Davis was with us our first year and he has been with us every year since. We owe much of the success of the Pike Piddlers Storytelling Festival to him.

“Our committee’s commitment is to bring the best storytellers in the country to our festival. And Donald Davis is a can’t miss. He is better than a fine wine.”

Davis was born in a Southern Appalachian mountain world rich with stories. He takes his audience on journeys that have them slapping their knees in laughter and wiping salty tears from their eyes, and all in a single story.

He tells stories of simpler times – Mayberry U.S.A. kind of times. He takes his audience down Maple Street and around the bend. But his stories have a universal quality. “You can related to Donald Davis’ stories because something similar probably happened to you or to someone you know,” Steed said. “Donald Davis tells stories about people just like those we know. His stories are our stories and we love hearing him tell them. There’s no one else like him.”

Concert times for the Pike Piddlers Storytelling Festival at the Trojan Center Theater on Saturday are 10 a.m. and 2 and 6:30 p.m. The 2 p.m. concert is sold out, as is the Friday night concert at the We Piddle Around Theater. Tickets for the 10 a.m. and 6:30 p.m. concerts are $10 and may be purchased by calling 334-685-5524 or 670-6302. Tickets are available at The Messenger.

All concerts feature pre-show music 30 minutes prior to the storytelling concerts and stories by all four tellers. Different stories are told at each concert. The Pike Piddlers Storytelling Festival is sponsored in part by the Alabama State Council on the Arts with support by the National Endowment for the Arts.