Please join us Thursday, September 6, at 5:30 p.m. for our first Music on the Porch at the Love House and Hutchins Forum. We have another wonderful line-up, featuring Sally Spring, Joe Newberry, and M. C. Taylor of Hiss Golden Messenger. Moderated by Freddy Jenkins of WUNC’s “Back Porch Music.” Bring a friend, bring a picnic, and enjoy some of the finest music North Carolina has to offer!
IN CASE OF INCLEMENT WEATHER, we will make an announcement on the day of the show with further instructions about cancellations or an alternate venue. Follow us at @UNCSouth and on Facebook for the most up-to-date news.
Sally Spring, folk-rock marvel since the ’70s, self-released records long before the “indie” world was popular. Her new release and fifth recording, Made Of Stars, is distributed by Super D and features not only her inimitable voice and evocative, powerful songwriting but also contributions from star studded line up including Susan Cowsill, Gurf Morlix, Peter Holsapple (dB’s, Continental drifters, REM), Caitlin Cary (Tres Chicas, Whiskeytown), Harvey Gold (Half Cleveland, Tin Huey, The Waitresses), James Mastro (Ian Hunter, Jayhawks, Bongos), Fred Smith (Television), Rich Feridun and Ted Lyons. The CD was produced by Lyons (who accompanies Spring in concert) and mixed by Chris Stamey (known for his production work with Whiskeytown, Alejandro Escovedo, and others).
Hailed by Variety as ” a captivating performer”, a “show stopper” by Sing Out and blessed with a “stunning voice and captivating songwriting” (The Independent), Sally Spring casts a mesmerizing spell on both record and the stage. Spring weaves into her own tapestry English folk-rock, bluegrass, old time music, country-rock of yore and today’s alternative country along with touches of everything from New York rock to classic folk to pop.
Born in California and raised in North Carolina, she literally started singing even before she could even speak. The daughter of an inventor/computer trailblazer whose classmates were Hewlett and Packard, Spring grew up thinking outside the box. At 11 years old, she bought her first guitar, figured out open tunings on her own and accompanied herself on a local television appearance a mere six weeks after she started playing. She performed in college coffee houses soon after, dropping in and out of school to travel and perform. She traveled the country on a shoestring making friends and sharing her southern Americana folk rock music with people like the Byrds, Doc Watson, Mama Cass, Rev. Gary Davis, Taj Mahal, and Nancy Nevins among many others.
Now more than thirty years later, Sally continues to perform at festivals, universities, and clubs wowing fans throughout the U.S. and Europe making “amazingly fresh music,” as Relish magazine observes. Sally was recently selected by the nationally recognized No Depression Magazine to perform in a show to celebrate their 10th Anniversary. Co-editor, Peter Blackstock, describes Sally as having “beautiful vocals” and an “A-list band”. Spring creates music of timeless and boundless appeal. “She’s a treasure.” (Gene Parsons). Check her out athttp://www.sallyspring.com.
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Joe Newberry is a Missouri native and North Carolina transplant who has played music most of his life. His powerful and innovative banjo playing has won contests around the country, including first-place at the Appalachian String Band Music Festival. A prizewinning guitarist, fiddler, and singer as well, Joe plays with Big Medicine, bigmedmusic.com. Garrison Keillor said of Big Medicine from the stage of A Prairie Home Companion, “That is what string band music is supposed to sound like. Absolutely effortless.”
Other collaborations include more of traditional music’s finest players. He plays banjo and sings with Bill Hicks, Mike Craver, and Jim Watson. For more about these great players, and early heroes of Joe’s, take a trip on the cyber highway to earlyblurs.com. For more about Jim, Mike, Bill, and Joe’s music, go to craverhickswatsonnewberry.com. Joe has a popular duo with mandolinist extraordinaire Mike Compton, mikecompton.net. Although they live far apart, their music makes them sound like next door neighbors. Joe and Mike have joined with Bruce Molsky and Rafe Stefanini to make a new band that is causing a stir at home and abroad. Joe plays in the Grey Eagles – a trio with Rafe Stefanini and Jim Collier. You can find out more about the “Silver Haired Monarchs of the Sky” at myspace.com/greyeagles.
When not working as a writer and editor, he does solo and studio work, and teaches and performs at festivals at home and abroad. More music clips and glowing reviews of his debut CD Two Hands, can be found at cdbaby.com/joenewberry.
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M. C. Taylor is a California native who has made North Carolina his home. His latest musical project is Hiss Golden Messenger, with collaborator Scott Hirsch. Taylor describes the inspiration for HGM thus: “I think of golden messages—like sky songs—as tunes that appear out of the blue and hang around your head, waiting to be sung. Some singers of gospel music I have talked to refer to these as “gift songs” that come from above, but I believe the more skeptically inclined can receive and sing these songs too. For example, I get a lot of golden messages while I am singing my son to sleep; they’re usually silly and I forget most of them. But some I remember and I record them later.” See more at http://www.facebook.com/HissGoldenMessenger.