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Music on the Porch: Alice Gerrard & Friends

Name: Music on the Porch: Alice Gerrard & Friends
Start: 2013-11-04T17:30:00-05:00
End: 2013-11-04T19:00:00-05:00
Location: Center for the Study of the American South @ the Love House & Hutchins Forum

November 4, 2013 @ 5:30 pm - 7:00 pm

Free

Alice Gerrard

w/Chris Brashear and Cliff Hale

Simply put, Alice Gerrard is a talent of legendary status. In a career spanning some 40-plus years, she has known, learned from, and performed with many of the old-time and bluegrass greats and has in turn earned worldwide respect for her own important contributions to the music.

Photo: John Cohen

Alice is particularly known for her groundbreaking collaboration with Appalachian singer Hazel Dickens during the 1960s and ’70s. The duo produced four classic LPs (recently reissued by Rounder on CD) and influenced scores of young women singers. Alice’s two solo albums, Pieces of My Heart and Calling Me Home, were released on the Copper Creek label in 1995 and 2004 to critical acclaim in Billboard, Bluegrass Unlimited, New Country, and other publications. These recordings showcase Alice’s compelling, eclectic songwriting; her powerful, hard-edged vocals; and her instrumental mastery on rhythm guitar, banjo, and old-time fiddle.

Alice and Luther Davis

Alice has appeared on more than 20 recordings, including projects with many traditional musicians such as Tommy Jarrell, Enoch Rutherford, Otis Burris, Luther Davis and Matokie Slaughter; with Tom Sauber and Brad Leftwich as Tom, Brad & Alice, with the Harmony Sisters, and with the Herald Angels. With her in-depth knowledge of mountain music, she has produced or written liner notes for a dozen more. She also co-produced and appeared in two documentary films.

A tireless advocate of traditional music, Alice has won numerous honors, including an International Bluegrass Music Association (IBMA) Distinguished Achievement Award, a Virginia Arts Commission Award, the North Carolina Folklore Society’s Tommy Jarrell Award, and an Indy Award.

Tom, Brad and Alice

In 1987 Alice founded The Old-Time Herald and the Old-Time Music Group, a non-profit organization that oversees publication of The Old-Time Herald. Alice served as editor-in-chief of The Old-Time Herald from 1987 till 2003. She continues to perform solo and with Tom Sauber and Brad Leftwich, the Herald Angels, and Beverly Smith. Watch for upcoming new recordings.

Chris Brashear is a vocalist, multi-instrumentalist, songwriter and an emerging artist on several musical fronts. He has made multiple showcase appearances at the International Bluegrass Music Association Fanfare, once with Kentucky Rose (1992) and subsequently with Frog Mountain (1994). He performed for two years in Italy as violinist with the Maurizio Geri Swingtet (1995-97). His first solo recording is a 1999 release from Copper Creek Records and was produced by Jody Stecher. Both Chris Brashear and Peter McLaughlin were IBMA showcase artists with the group Perfect Strangers (2000). He is the fiddler for Perfect Strangers, a band of established bluegrass veterans with talent and vitality to burn.

Cliff Hale grew up listening to all kinds of American Roots music thanks to a sharing father who had a deep appreciation for the same and a great music collection! From a singing family, he was coaxed to join in with the family quartet as a child and has been singing ever since. When Cliff attended WVU, he had the good fortune to play and sing in a band of talented musicians who shared passion and respect for hardcore bluegrass. Nowadays, he is pleased to be playing with The Rye Mountain Boys based in Raleigh, NC.