A Smithsonian Exhibition

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A Smithsonian Exhibition

March 12 7:30 p.m.

Celebrating the Traditions of Gospel, Blues and Folk

Jerry “Boogie” McCain and Microwave Dave

Peanutt Montgomery and Sue Richards

Bare Knuckles

GMBC Sanctuary Singers

Ritz Theater, 111 West 3rd_{Street, Sheffield, Alabama} Contact: Keith McMurtrey, 256.383.0533

www.tvaaa.net

Tickets: $10.00 in Advance, $15.00 at the Door

Jerry “Boogie” McCain and Microwave Dave

Singer and harmonica player Jerry McCain’s best-known song, She’s Tuff was made into a breakthrough hit by the Fabulous Thunderbirds in the mid-80s. McCain’s own recording career started in 1952 with the Trumpet label. He also recorded for Excello and Okeh and a handful of smaller companies with little success in the late ‘50s.

Determined not to quit playing the blues, however, McCain stuck with his music, playing small clubs in Alabama, occasionally touring with better-known artists like Freddie King and Rufus Thomas, and recording for Ric, Continental, Jewel and other small labels, when not working as a private investigator. In the early ‘60s, McCain signed with CBS Records; his version of Gene Ammons’ Red Top was a regional hit, but he failed to record a suitable follow-up number and was dropped from the label.

Thanks to the success enjoyed by the Fabulous Thunderbirds with She’s Tuff, interest in McCain’s music finally picked up again in the late 1980s. In 1989 he signed a recording contract with Ichiban Records. His debut album for the label, Blues ‘n Stuff, gave his career new life and shone new light on his harp talents. McCain continues to record and perform.

From the Tennessee Valley comes Microwave Dave and the Nukes with blues as old as poverty, as new as digital technology. Formed in Huntsville, Alabama during the late ‘80s, this trio has won over audiences from blues festivals and concerts to bars and street parties with their consistently emotional performances of blues songs. Utilizing both

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classic, instantly recognizable pieces and obscure off-the-wall surprises, the NUKES sell their entire repertoire to every crowd by employing a combination of vocal intensity, instrumental finesse and flagrance, and the desire to groove and heal that is the very foundation of the blues.

Currently, Microwave Dave can be found producing and hosting his Talkin the Blues weekly program over NPR, college and public radio stations in Alabama, promoting blues awareness and appreciation through recordings, interviews and how-to segments, along with lists of local appearances by blues artists.

Peanutt Montgomery and Sue Richards

Earl, better known as “Peanutt” is the youngest of the talented Montgomery family. His oldest brother Aaron played with Hank Williams, brother Monty was a vocalist releasing recordings on three different labels, Carl wrote the classic Six Days on the Road and sister Melba recorded with Roy Acuff, George Jones, Charlie Louvin and Gene Pitney in

addition to having a solo career.

“Peanutt” was one of the first studio guitarists in the Muscle Shoals area and went on to tour with Bobby Denton, George Jones and Tammy Wynette, Red Foley, Cowboy Copas, Patsy Cline and others. He is best known for his songwriting, having written or co-written 38 of George Jones’ singles, and the country classics One Of These Days, What’s Your Mama’s Name Child and We’re Gonna Hold On.

A native of the Shoals area, Sue Richards began singing Gospel music with her family at the age of 4, then released her first record on the Sun label at the age of 11, recording under her maiden name Maggie Sue Wimberly.

The record How Long was backed with Daydreams Come True and was produced by Sam Phillips. She was the third female act on Phillips label and although the songs were rockabilly in style remain closest to pure country among Phillips acts.

She recorded Too Many Daddys for Epic Records in 1969, and released I Just Had You On My Mind on ABC-Dot in 1973. Her biggest hit Sweet Sensuous Feelings on ABC-Dot hit the charts in 1976. The song was written by Ava and Roy Aldridge.

Richards toured as a background vocalist with Tammy Wynette from 1977 until Wynette’s death in 1998.

As a songwriter, Richards wrote Let’s All Go Down to the River, written with Earl “Peanutt” Montgomery. I Just Had You On My Mind, Somebody Hold Me (Until She Passes By), written with Ava and Roy Aldridge, Ease Me To The Ground, Please Tell Him That I Said Hello, He Was There When I Needed You and Imaginary Arms.

Bare Knuckles

When you mix a poet and a photographer and practicing blues musician together in The Muscle Shoals you get Bare Knuckles. Wayne Sides is the photographer part of the mixture. In addition to his duties as a member of the faculty of the University of North Alabama, Wayne Sides has collaborated with musicians and writers to produce books, exhibits and movies.

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One of those collaborations is with poet, Jake Berry. Jake Berry, whose work is widely published, has been quoted as saying, that the combination of blues and country provide, the ground we live on, the environment we live in – that this music was born in.

March 13 – May 8

New Harmonies: Celebrating American Roots Music

Tennessee Valley Museum of Art, 511 North Water Street, Tuscumbia, Alabama

Exhibition Hours: Sunday, 1:00 p.m. – 3:00 p.m.; Monday – Friday, 9:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m. Contact: Mary Settle Cooney, 256.383.0533

www.tvaa.net Admission: FREE

The Tennessee Valley Museum of Art is the first of six venues for an Alabama tour of the Smithsonian Institution’s exhibition, New Harmonies: Celebrating American Roots Music. The exhibition is touring the U.S. It identifies the cultural exchange that reshaped musical traditions of many peoples into the sounds of one people: Americans.

In conjunction with the Smithsonian exhibition, the Tennessee Valley Museum of Art, Alabama Music Hall of Fame, the Muscle Shoals Music Association and Music Preservation Society have collaborated to develop additional exhibitions and

educational programs that identify the cultural exchange that reshaped the musical traditions of our own community: traditions that produced artists whose “new harmonies” impacted music around the world including “The Muscle Shoals Sound” and W. C. Handy.

Additional exhibitions include Heroes, Hymns, Hard Times and Good Times: the roots of traditional music in Alabama and Muscle Shoals Music: early traditions to rhythm and blues.

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March 15

Celebrating the Traditions of Bluegrass and Country

2:30 p.m.

Curtain Talk by Dr. Bill Foster

Admission: FREE 3:00 p.m.

Foster Family String Band

Jake Landers Band

Tickets: $10.00 in Advance, $15.00 at the Door Ritz Theater, 111 West 3rd_{Street, Sheffield, Alabama} Contact: Keith McMurtrey, 256.383.0533

www.tvaa.net

Foster Family String Band

Drawing on a family musical tradition that spans ten generations, the Foster Family String Band of Florence won numbers of awards including String Band of the Year for five consecutive years by the Society for the Preservation of Bluegrass Music in America. Composed of Dr. Bill Foster on banjo, his wife Anne on guitar, son Will on bass and

daughter Melissa on mandolin, the group offers a varied repertoire of traditional ballads, popular songs of the 19th_{century and bluegrass favorites. The band played its style of} acoustic music on southeastern US tours beginning in 1977. The members of the Foster Family are instrumental virtuosos who together have captured the title of Championship Band of the Upper Cumberlands, Will was named the Most Promising Bass Player in the United States (under 18) and Dr. Foster garnered 33 championship titles in old-time banjo and bluegrass banjo. In addition, Dr. Foster is an award-winning author and folklorist.

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Jake Landers is recognized nationally and worldwide as one of Bluegrass music’s premier songwriters having penned such bluegrass classics ad Secret of the Waterfall, The Girl I Love and The Last Request.

His crossover hit Walk Softly on This Heart of Mine sold in excess of 22 million copies for the Kentucky Headhunters. Jake’s tunes have been performed or recorded by almost every bluegrass band down through the years, including bluegrass greats Bill Monroe, The Country Gentlemen, The Osborne Brothers, Jim and Jessie, Vassar Clements and the Bluegrass Cardinals.

Landers put together his own band in 1956 called the Dixie Gentlemen. He played with Bill Monroe’s legendary Bluegrass Boys in the 60s at the Grand Ole Opry every Friday and Saturday night.

On March 21, 2009, Mr. Landers will be inducted into the Alabama Bluegrass Music Hall of Fame. He continues to perform with his current group: fiddle and vocals, Larry

McWilliams; vocals and bass, James Whitten; and five-string banjo, Mike Holloway.

March 29 2:00 p.m.

New Harmonies: Celebrating American Roots Music

Gallery Talk by Joyce Cauthen -

Fiddlers, Banjo Players and Strawbeaters

– Alabama’s First Pop Musicians

Tennessee Valley Museum of Art, 511 North Water Street, Tuscumbia, Alabama Contact: Keith McMurtrey, 256.383.0533

www.tvaa.net

Admission: FREE – includes exhibition

Fiddles are mentioned in the first written history of Alabama. Its author, A. J. Pickett, wrote of the Alabama Territory as it was in the late 1700s, saying that “the house of Samuel Mims, a wealthy Indian countryman, was the most spacious in the country, and hither the young and gay flocked to parties and danced to the music furnished by the Creoles of Mobile and others, for the country abounded in fiddlers, of high and low degree.” This presentation will discuss the early fiddlers of Alabama, the musicians who played with them and the popularity of this music in their communities. Discussions will also surround the pivotal role played by African-Americans in developing the music at the roots of today’s bluegrass and country music.

This talk will be made especially interesting by the presence of fiddler Jim Cauthen who will demonstrate fiddle tunes that have been specifically mentioned in historical writings, slave narratives and early newspapers of Alabama. Joyce Cauthen will demonstrate use

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of banjo, “straws” (a technique in which broom straws or knitting needles were beat on the strings as the fiddler played) and guitar in backing up the fiddle. The audience will hear musical styles and tunes that are seldom heard today and will have the opportunity to ask questions and share their perceptions of the differences in this music and the modern country music that is based upon it.

April 5 2:00 p.m.

New Harmonies: Celebrating American Roots Music

Gallery Talk by David Ivy and Demonstrations by the North Alabama

Shape Note Singers

www.tvaa.net

David Ivey has played an important role in sustaining the tradition of Sacred Harp singing in north Alabama. A singer since his childhood in Henagar, he attended singing schools under such notable singing masters as Hugh McGraw and Leonard Lacy. Through the Alabama Folk Arts Apprenticeship Program, he has taught singing schools in numerous Alabama communities for several years. Mr. Ivey often takes part in all-day singings around the state, regularly “pitching” or “keying” music as a front bench tenor. He has held leadership positions with local and state singing conventions, the Sacred Harp Publishing Company and the Sacred Harp Musical Heritage Association. He also co-founded and directs Camp Fasola, an innovative program in which children and adults learn Sacred Harp singing in a summer camp setting.

April 19 2:00 p.m.

New Harmonies: Celebrating American Roots Music

Gallery Talk by Dr. Alan Brown -

Sounds of Alabama: Blues, Folk, and

Country Western Icons from the Heart of Dixie

www.tvaa.net

Alabama has produced a number of singers who have achieved national and

international fame. Inexplicably, Alabama’s contributions to American music have been overshadowed by the works of legendary musicians from Mississippi (e.g., Elvis Presley and Robert Johnson). The fact remains that Alabama has produced a number of musicians whose songs have encapsulated the Alabama experience in blues and country western music. “Sounds of Alabama” showcases the lives and works of six of

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Alabama’s best-known singers and songwriters: blues artists W.C. Handy (1873-1958) and Willie Mae “Big Mama” Thornton (1926-1984), folk music’s Vera Hall (1902-1965) and Odetta (b. 1930), country music artist’s Hank Williams (1923-1953) and the country western band Alabama. The primary goal of this presentation is to show how the most recent singers benefited and built upon the works of the pioneering singers in each genre.

April 26 2:00 p.m.

New Harmonies: Celebrating American Roots Music

Gallery Talk by Terry Pace –

Born in a Funk Factory: the mystic power of

the Muscle Shoals Sound

www.tvaa.net

This program is sponsored by The Alabama State Council on the Arts, the National Endowment for the Arts, the Alabama Humanities Foundation, the state affiliate of the National Endowment for the Humanities and the Tennessee Valley Art Association’s Educational Outreach Partners. Project partners for this program are the Tennessee Valley Art Association, Alabama Music Hall of Fame, Muscle Shoals Music Association and Music Preservation Society.

May 2

10:00 a.m. – 3:15 p.m.

Panel Discussions

Celebrating the Traditions of Muscle Shoals

www.tvaa.net Admission: FREE

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12:30 p.m. – Welcome to Muscle Shoals: the hit recording capital of the world 2:00 p.m. – Southern Soul and Old-Time Rock ‘n’ Roll: fifty years of immaculate funk

May 2 7:30 p.m.

Concert

Celebrating the Traditions of Muscle Shoals

www.tvaa.net

Tickets: $10.00 in Advance, $15.00 at the Door

Southern soul and old-time rock ‘n’ roll, fifty years of immaculate funk.

April 5, April 11, April 18 and April 25

Saturday Studio Tours – Call the museum for information.

This program is sponsored by The Alabama State Council on the Arts, the National Endowment for the Arts, the Alabama Humanities Foundation, the state affiliate of the National Endowment for the Humanities and the Tennessee Valley Art Association’s Educational Outreach Partners. Project partners for this program are the Tennessee Valley Art Association, Alabama Music Hall of Fame, Muscle Shoals