MARCH 17, 2011: THE ALLEN BOYS, IN CONJUNCTION WITH THE SOUTHERN SACRED STEEL CONFERENCE.
The Allen Boys, North Carolina’s only touring Sacred Steel band, kick off of The ArtsCenter’s Southern Sacred Steel Conference, March 17-20, 2011. The Allen Boys are cousins DaShawn Hickman, Cameron and Ramsey Moore, and Adrian Bonville. Sacred Steel is infectious, uplifting, steel-guitar fronted music from certain House of God churches. Recommended for fans of jam bands, blues, slide guitar, and gospel alike! Folklorist Robert Stone, will moderate. This project is made possible by the Center for the Study of the American South, the Arts Center and a grant from the North Carolina Humanities Council, a statewide nonprofit and affiliate of the National Endowment for the Humanities.
MARCH 31, 2011: JON SHAIN, RHIANNON GIDDENS (OF THE CAROLINA CHOCOLATE DROPS), AND STEVE KRUGER. MODERATED BY PETER HOLSAPPLE.
Jon Shain is the rare folkie who truly brings the “chops” to his songs along with the lyrics. From learning Piedmont Blues at the side of Big Boy Henry to his years playing with local folk-rock band Flyin’ Mice to his solo career, Shain has always weaved a variety of roots music influences into his songwriting. The last few years Shain has been playing esteemed listening rooms up and down the East Coast, in addition to doing some of the highest profile shows of his career – opening sold out theatre shows for John Hiatt, Keb’ Mo’, Little Feat, and others.
It’s hard to contain the energy and enthusiasm of Rhiannon Giddens, a member of the Grammy winning Carolina Chocolate Drops. Her life story reads like a post-modern novel with overlapping plots. Talents and fascinations, whims and obsessions tumble over each other and pour out in a fiery stage performance rooted in disciplined virtuosity. It’s the training of opera overflowing into the unchained world of old-time music.
“It has been positive and negative that things have happened so fast,” Rhiannon reflects with her unusual mix of calm and excited ambition. “We are able to make a good living, but it was hard for us to jump into touring. We were not used to it and not all that savvy. We’re finding our footing now – but musically we have lots to cover and lots to explore.”
Steve Kruger picked up the guitar and banjo as a teenager, got bit by the old time bug and took up the fiddle and then spent the next 9 years playing in living rooms, dance halls and fiddlers conventions around North Carolina, East Tennessee and Southwestern Virginia. For his latest project, he is taking song texts from the Frank C. Brown Collection of North Carolina Folklore and putting them to music. He is a student in the University of North Carolina Folklore Program, and studies music, memory and land use issues.
APRIL 28, 2011: SHANA TUCKER, GABRIEL PELLI, AND JANE FRANCIS. MODERATED BY ANDREW MAGILL.
Shana Tucker was raised in Amityville, NY, and first learned to play piano. She later traded violin for cello and studied at Howard University (Washington, DC) and CUNY – Brooklyn College Conservatory of Music with Marion Feldman. While in DC and NYC, she played with the string/piano trio, Hue. Her commissioned works include Nexxus and Savannah, both of which were composed for The Washington Ballet (with Maritri Garrett, co-writer) and premiered at The Kennedy Center (Washington, DC). Savannah was also chosen to debut at the Joyce Theatre-NYC and also at the Witts Theater in Johannesburg, South Africa. While with Hue, Shana opened for several critically-acclaimed recording artists, including the Indigo Girls, Sweet Honey in the Rock, jazz saxophonist Hamiett Bluett, drummer/vocalist Vinx, and the Blind Boys of Alabama. Her new solo cd, SHiNE, will be released February 24.
Classically trained, Gabriel Pelli is fiddle player of all genres, with Stuff Smith and Stefane Grapelli being most inspirational. He played for years in his own Gypsy Jazz group, Europa Jazz, and more recently plays with the newly regrouped Squirrel Nut Zippers. When not playing jazz, he rocks the violin with The Old Ceremony.
Jane Francis is a songwriter, music teacher and multi-instrumentalist who relocated to North Carolina in her teens from western New York where she grew up listening to her father’s jazz records and studying classical music. Continually experimenting with the timeless blending of British folk-rock and blues, Francis offsets traditional forms with quirky pop balladry and refined lyrics. She is a recent member of the Chapel Hill Philharmonia and Cary’s RTOOT Orchestra on the upright bass; an instrument she plans to feature in her upcoming CD, as well as members of Footnotes Tap Ensemble.
JULY 26, 2011: SCORCH THE PORCH WITH RYAN CAVANAUGH AND REX MCGEE
Ryan Cavanaugh has spent the last 4 years touring the international jazz scene with Bill Evans’s Soulgrass. Cavanaugh was a champion of the Merlefest, Rockygrass, and Renofest banjo contests and in ’07 released his bluegrass cd “Songs For the New Frontier” and played on 8 tracks of Bill Evans’s record, “The Other Side of Something.” His latest cd is titled “Ryan Cavanaugh and No Man’s Land.”
Rex McGee has appeared at Cape Breton Celtic Colours festival and the Johnny Keenan Banjo Festival in Longford, Ireland. He has played Merlefest with the Larry Keel Experience, and performed at Duke University with acclaimed Irish musicians – piper Todd Denman, accordionist Brian O’Connor and fiddler Grainne Murphy. He plays out very infrequently so we are very pleased to have him join us. Rex is also a graduate of The UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy.
Moderated by Peter Holsapple.