Friday, July 11, 2014

Charlotte Folk Society reveals 34th season lineup

The Charlotte Folk Society's 34th concert season kicks of tonight with "Pete Seeger: A Musical Tribute to Courage" - a concert curated by Harry Taylor celebrating the legendary folk singer and activist's work through music, photographs, and film. Performers include Taylor, Saundra Porter Thomas, Roife Neigenfind, and Mason Schmitt.

Folk Society's free concerts take place on the second Friday of each month at the Great Aunt Stella Center (926 Elizabeth Ave.) and are followed by refreshments and an open jam. Doors open at 7 p.m. and music starts at 7:30 p.m. The lineup for the organization's 34th season follows:

August 8 - Wayne Henderson & Clay Lunsford, "thumb and finger picking" guitarists known for the respective festivals they created in their home states of Virginia and North Carolina. Luthier and 1995 National Heritage Fellowship winner Henderson (pictured) is also known for crafting one of Eric Clapton's guitars.

September 12 - Robin & Linda Williams, the husband and wife folk duo who has spent 40-plus years blending bluegrass, folk, old time and country that's been covered by Nashville elite like Kathy Mattea and Emmylou Harris. Robin Williams was also born in Charlotte.

October 10 - Sparky and Rhonda Rucker, a blues-folk duo who's current show incorporates history through song touching on slavery, women's suffrage, the founding of the UMWA, and the Civil Rights Movement.

November 14 - To celebrate the publication of the new book "Wayfaring Strangers: The Musical Voyage from Scotland and Ulster to Appalachia" and its companion CD (UNC Press), former folk society president, Warren Wilson College President, and co-author Doug Orr and the book's art director Darcy Orr will join co-author Fiona Ritchie, host of NPR's award winning Celtic program "Thistle & Shamrock." The trio actually met through CFS years ago. The multi-media program will include photos and illustrations from the book, stories of migrants whose music informed the sounds of Appalachia, and Irish and Appalachian music from duo Little Windows.

January 9 - The CFS Young Talent Showcase features 2014 Marylin Meacham Price Scholarship recipients Sam Richardson and Mason Schmitt (pictured below).

February 13 - Scott Ainslie, the historian and acoustic blues musician who has spent much of his career studying and preserving Appalachian folk, old-time, blues and gospel through work with elder musicians, many from NC. His 2013 February appearance with CFS was cancelled due to snow, so consider this a makeup date.

March 13 - Mipso, the up and coming Chapel Hill string band trio.

April 10 - Andrea Beaton and Dick Hensold's traditional Cape Breton fiddling and piping.

Events for December (which will likely feature medieval music on traditional instruments), May and June are still tentative. Check www.folksociety.org for updates.

(Photos courtesy of www.waynehenderson.org and https://www.facebook.com/masonschmittmusic)