Press release from Madison County Arts Council:
Joe Penland wears many hats, old-time ballad singer, songwriter, historian and irrepressible raconteur.
Joe will open his 2017 season with (in)? a performance at the Madison County Arts Center, 90 S. Main Street, Marshall, N.C. on Saturday, April 22 at 7:30 PM, with Hung Up On The Love Songs.
This edition of Penland’s continuing series, Ballads, Songs and Stories of the Mountains explores the truth (and inescapable variations the truth) about North Carolina’s most famous “Love Songs” as they are called in the deep valleys and coves of the Western North Carolina Mountains. Expect an evening filled with danger, intrigue and steamy liaisons richly spiced with downhome humor.
“Joe’s stories make you thirsty for more local history,” says Laura Boosinger, executive director of the Madison County Arts Council. “Walking four miles while 8 ½ months pregnant to sing for an Englishman conjures up enough images to last the whole evening,” she says. “And then there’s that one about the rooster riding the chicken coop down the French Broad.”
Penland’s running commentary of growing up in rural Madison County and along the banks of the mighty French Broad have made him one of the South’s most beloved storytellers and songwriters. Deemed “A Cultural Treasure”, Joe’s award winning Appalachian ballad singing and storytelling have made him a favorite at festivals and folk venues on both sides of the Atlantic. In 2005 he won the prestigious Bascom Lamar Lunsford Award, named for his cousin and founder of the longest continually running folk festival in America.
Tickets and information are available by contacting the Madison County Arts Council at (828) 649-9609.
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