UWG News Item
Contact: UWG Public Relations Office
Phone (678) 839-6464, FAX (678) 839-6645
ucm@westga.edu
Concert at UWG features blue grass, folk and gospel music
February 13, 2006
CARROLLTON, GA - The Center for Public History at the University of West Georgia will debut its third CD, Set Your Fields on Fire Volume I, with an exciting concert Saturday, Feb. 18 at 7 p.m. at the Townsend Center for Performing Arts.
The
nostalgic event will feature old-time favorites of bluegrass, traditional
folk songs and gospel genre including The Byrd Family, The Bluegrass Five,
The Long Sisters, Faye Marshall, Sandra Byrd, The United Shape Note Singers
and Alton Stitcher. It’s a performance that has been a long time
in the making.
Members of the Sewell Singers group, composed of former local textile mill workers, will reunite to sing gospel tunes they performed in the 1960s on Carrollton’s radio station WLBB (1330-AM).
“It is amazing how a small idea can snowball into something much bigger,” said Trevor Lanier, a UWG graduate student who is overseeing the project. “I’m sure no one had any idea that we would tap into the treasure trove of musical heritage that has, to date, filled three CDs with recordings by local artists.”
The CD and the concert are funded, in part, through the support of the Georgia Folklife Program and the Georgia Council for the Arts and the Community Foundation of West Georgia. Mick Buck, a graduate student, began the Regional Music Project in 2000 at West Georgia.
All of the performers at the concert are locally well-known musicians, songwriters and singers in the West Georgia region and the south. The concert will be history in the making, said Dr. Ann McCleary, director of the Center for Public History.
“We are excited to add this new recording to our collection,” said McCleary. “The songs heard here can be found in gospel barns, bluegrass festivals and church singings. These West Georgia musicians have taken popular, well-known songs and have woven them into the folk values of their community.”
The Center for Public History preserves cultural, architectural and folklife resources in the West Georgia community. Faculty and students provide services in historical research, oral history, folklife fieldwork and architectural survey throughout the region.
Lanier said the music shows the important diversity in community life. “Hopefully this project will instill a sense of history and appreciation in West Georgians,” said Lanier. “It can inspire other communities to discover the many folk traditions present in their own back yards.”
The new CD, Set Your Fields on Fire Volume 1, will be released at the concert and will be available through the Center for Public History and at Clayworks, Horton’s Books, Burson’s Feed and Seed in Carrollton and The Tin Roof Cafe in Villa Rica.
Tickets for the concert are $6 for general admission and $4 for seniors, students and children under 13 years of age. Call the Townsend Center Box Office at 678-839-4722 for reservations and to purchase tickets.
For information on the Regional Music Project at the Center for Public History, call 678-839-6141.
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