PRESS RELEASE:
The Center for Cultural Preservation is proud to announce the next program in its series Keeping the Fires Burning. The January 26th program is titled, “Reflections on Madison County’s Musical Heritage, An Afternoon and Evening with Joe Penland.” 100 years ago, Cecil Sharp, a British collector of ballad songs, came to the Southern Appalachians to collect traditional folksongs that had all but vanished in the British Isles. What he uncovered in Western North Carolina was a treasure chest of music that made history. He collected hundreds of songs in these mountains, many in Madison County and Joe Penland will be celebrating this legacy at an afternoon lecture and evening concert on Tuesday, January 26th. (Weather date is February 11.)
Joe Penland is a tenth generation balladeer who has been described as a cultural treasure given his glorious storytelling, musical performances and historical preservation work. His accounts of Madison County and WNC’s musical tradition are second to none. According to Penland, “There’s something about this place that inspires me to write about my feelings and the human condition.” David Weintraub, Executive Director for the Center for Cultural Preservation describes Penland’s contributions to mountain music this way, “Madison County has been fertile musical ground for centuries. But, like most of our treasures, the extent of its legacy was virtually unknown to the rest of the country and the world until the 20th century. Cecil Sharp called Madison County the richest repository of English folk songs in the world. Penland has a magical way of bringing this story to life to help us better understand the riches that have blossomed in our hills for many generations.”
Reflections on Madison County’s Musical Heritage is a two-part program presented in collaboration with the Blue Ridge Center for Lifelong Learning at Blue Ridge Community College. The class and lecture will be held at 1:00 PM on January 26th at Blue Ridge Community College’s Patton Building room 150. The evening concert and storytelling will be held that evening at 7:00 PM at the Thomas Auditorium on BRCC’s campus. Tickets for each program are $15 per person and $25 for purchasing both programs. To order tickets to either or both ballad programs, order them online on the Center for Cultural Preservation’s website www.saveculture.org or send a check to the Center at P.O. Box 1066, Flat Rock, NC 28731. For more information about this program or any of the Center’s upcoming events go to saveculture.org or call the Center at (828) 692-8062. This program is being run in collaboration with the Blue Ridge Center for Lifelong Learning and the Henderson County History and Genealogy Center.
The Center for Cultural Preservation is a cultural nonprofit organization dedicated to working for mountain heritage continuity through oral history, documentary film, education and public programs. For more information about the Center contact them at (828) 692-8062 or www.saveculture.org.
The Blue Ridge Center for Lifelong Learning is an organization within BRCC whose mission is to nurture the intellect and inspire the imagination of the senior population. For more information about the Blue Ridge Center contact them at (828) 694-1740 or www.blueridge.edu
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