2008

Over the last few years the Niles Gallery Series has included an exceptional series of noontime performances by traditional musicians and scholars. The series from 2005-2007 highlighted the talents of artists from or strongly influenced by the old time Appalachian regional traditions, including Mike Seeger, Homer Ledford, Sheila Kay Adams. Sparky Rucker, Lee Sexton, the Carolina Chocolate Drops, and many others.

In an innovative “town and gown” initiative, the Niles Center and the Little Fine Arts Library are collaborating with the Lexington Public Library to host six  Bluegrass in the Bluegrass concerts at the Central Library downtown for the Lexington community. The Lexington Public Library concerts will be presented at 7:00 PM on the Thursday evening prior to the concert the next day--Friday at noon in the Niles Gallery of the University of Kentucky’s Lucille Little Fine Arts Library.

Bluegrass in the Bluegrass: Lee Sexton with Rich Kirby
Friday, September 12, 12:00 PM
Niles Gallery, Lucille Little Fine Arts Library
Free and open to the public

Sexton, a native of Letcher County, Ky., began playing the banjo at the age of eight, and is considered a master of both traditional banjo styles of East Kentucky – two-finger picking and "drop-thumb" or clawhammer. He is a past recipient of a Governor's Award in the Arts. Kirby learned traditional or old-time music from his grandmother, ballad singer Addie Graham of Magoffin County, Ky. He has long maintained a relationship with Appalshop and its radio station WMMT-FM, located in Whitesburg, Ky. Along with an encyclopedic knowledge of old-time mountain music genre, Kirby is recognized for his scholarship regarding popular music of developing nations, especially music from Africa.

Bluegrass in the Bluegrass: Kentucky Wild Horse
Friday, September 19, 12:00 PM
Niles Gallery, Lucille Little Fine Arts Library
Free and open to the public

Kentucky Wild Horse draws on the transitional era in the 1930s and ‘40s when the older traditional music was beginning to develop in a new direction that would later come to be known as bluegrass. Members of the band have family and community connections to Kentucky music. They try to preserve these older traditions in their approach to the music and welcome the opportunity to share what may rightly be regarded as Kentucky's greatest gift to American culture. John Harrod is an expert collector and scholar of Kentucky’s old time fiddle and string band traditions. He was the recipient of the Governor’s Folk Heritage Award in 2004. Paul David Smith, fiddler, is a master musician from Pike County who played alongside legendary fiddler Owen “Snake” Chapman for many a year.

Bluegrass in the Bluegrass: Kentucky Center for Traditional Music at Morehead State University, The Bluegrass Band.
Friday, September 26, 12:00 PM
Niles Gallery, Lucille Little Fine Arts Library
Free and open to the public

The Kentucky Center for Traditional Music is actively involved in preserving and presenting the rich musical culture of the Commonwealth. Jesse Wells is Education Coordinator and Adjunct Professor at Morehead’s Kentucky Center for Traditional Music, and a remarkable fiddler and banjo player himself. He will be bringing student ensembles from KCTM to discuss and showcase the development of bluegrass music instruction at collegiate institutions.

Bluegrass in the Bluegrass: Beverly Smith and Carl Jones
Friday, October 10, 12:00 PM
Niles Gallery, Lucille Little Fine Arts Library
Free and open to the public

For Years Carl Jones and Beverly Smith have appeared on the traditional music scene, at festivals, on record, at contests and dances, in various bands and formations, playing just about anything with strings or tossing in vocal harmonies wherever there was the opportunity. In their recordings they bring those years of experience to the art of the duet—songs and tunes, old and new, done simply and with love.

Bluegrass in the Bluegrass: Music of Coal with Ron Short
Monday, October 13, 12:00 PM
Niles Gallery, Lucille Little Fine Arts Library
Free and open to the public

Music of Coal is a compilation of coal mining songs compiled to accompany a book by Paul Kuczko of historical photos from Lee and Wise counties in Virginia. Ron Short, a native of the Appalachian Mountains of Dickenson County, Virginia, has worked at Roadside Theater for the past 26 years as a playwright, musician, composer, actor, and director. He scripted and wrote music for 15 musical plays and helped script three others, all currently in Roadside's touring repertoire. He performs in all of the company's touring productions.

Bluegrass in the Bluegrass: Dr. Tim Lake and the Tim Lake Trio
Friday, October 17, 12:00 PM
Niles Gallery, Lucille Little Fine Arts Library
Free and open to the public

Dr. Tim Lake is a singer-songwriter, composer, performer, and teacher who was born in Manhattan, New York, and was raised in Lexington, Kentucky. Playing banjo and guitar, Tim has been a professional musician for over 20 years, has released ten albums of original songs, and has performed internationally and across the United States with his group "The Little Big Band." Tim received a doctorate in music in 1991 from the University of Kentucky. In 1993, he performed and recorded the world premiere of his doctoral work, An American Concerto For 5-String Banjo and Orchestra, with the Atlanta-Emory Orchestra in Atlanta, Georgia. In 1995, his concerto was awarded Kentucky’s prestigious Al Smith Fellowship for music composition. He also received recognition as a composer from ASCAP’s Standard and Popular Awards panel from 1994 through 2006.

Bluegrass in the Bluegrass: Gloria Belle
Friday, October 31, 12:00 PM
Niles Gallery, Lucille Little Fine Arts Library
Free and open to the public

Gloria Belle launched her musical career in the foothills of East Tennessee where bluegrass roots run deep. She made her first appearances on WBIR Television in Knoxville in the early 1960's. In 1999 she became one of the few women to ever be presented the Distinguished Achievement Award by the International Bluegrass Music Association (IBMA), represents a lifetime of dedication and contributions to bluegrass music. In 2001 the IBMA awarded Gloria the Recorded Event of the Year award for her participation in 'Follow Me Back to the Fold: A Tribute to Women in Bluegrass.'

Bluegrass in the Bluegrass: GrassKats
Friday, November 14, 12:00 PM
Niles Gallery, Lucille Little Fine Arts Library
Free and open to the public

The University of Kentucky’s very own bluegrass band featuring a weave of incredibly tight vocal harmonies punctuated by the counterpoint of some fine fretwork. With Adam French (Music major in violin) on fiddle, Tanner Jones (vocal music major) on banjo, Dr. Jefferson Johnson (Director of Choral Activities) on mandolin, John Johnson plays bass, and Chris Weiss is the guitarist.

Bluegrass in the Bluegrass: Hog Operation
Friday, November 21, 12:00 PM
Niles Gallery, Lucille Little Fine Arts Library
Free and open to the public

The Hog Operation is an ensemble that is steeped in Kentucky's rich music tradition. This group gives high-energy performances created by the cross-pollination of many American roots music styles including Blues, Bluegrass, Celtic, Country and Rock. Hog Operation plays a style of supercharged Bluegrass music using traditional instrumentation - guitar, banjo, bass, fiddle and mandolin - that accompany silky smooth three-part harmony vocals. The players are Steve Cooley, Screamin' John Hawkins, Larry Raley and Chubby Spud (a.k.a. Mike Schroeder). This Louisville-based band has released two CDs New Litter featuring all original music and Nice Ham Bites, covering a variety of Bluegrass and Country standards.

Bluegrass in the Bluegrass: J. D. Crowe
Friday, December 05, 12:00 PM
Niles Gallery, Lucille Little Fine Arts Library
Free and open to the public

Banjoist J.D. Crowe is simply one of the most influential musicians of the developmental period of Bluegrass. After the founding generation of Bill Monroe and the Stanley Brothers had defined the style, bluegrass needed an infusion of new ideas, styles, and repertoire to continue to grow and spread. J. D. Crowe of Lexington, KY was right there with all the innovative and progressive ideas. His New South Band with legendary pickers including Tony Rice, Ricky Skaggs, and Jerry Douglas, changed the face of Bluegrass while retaining ties with the enduring features of the “old school.”

Bluegrass in the Bluegrass: Red State Ramblers
Friday, December 12, 12:00 PM
Niles Gallery, Lucille Little Fine Arts Library
Free and open to the public

Music that is bound to the earth has the greatest power to affect us. That music which maintains the sacred bond uniting people and place has a vitality and passion that stirs our souls and imaginations. The music of the Red State Ramblers features native and adopted Kentuckians playing Kentucky tunes and songs that resonate with the truth of life lived close to the font from which this music springs. Will Bacon and Jeff Keith grew up in the Bluegrass State, while Nikos Pappas and Kevin Kehrberg were inevitably drawn to the Commonwealth several years ago.

Grandmothers: Two Remarkable Kentucky Women and Their Music
Friday, February 27, 7:30 PM
Niles Gallery, Lucille Little Fine Arts Library
Free and open to the public

This concert celebrates the release of a new recording on June Appal Records (Appalshop) featuring the music of Kentucky ballad singer Addie Graham (b.1890) and the original "Banjo Picking Girl" Lily May Ledford (b.1917). Their lives and music encapsulate the traditional heritage of the region, the social and economic changes of the 20th Century, and the emergence of traditional mountain music into the American musical mainstream. Lily May's granddaughter Cari Norris will join Addie's grandson Rich Kirby in a program presenting their grandmothers' lives and music.