For release: Feb. 18, 2013
MURFREESBORO, Tenn. — The Center for Popular Music at Middle Tennessee State University, in
partnership with Linebaugh Public Library and the city of Murfreesboro, has
been awarded a grant to mount a six-week “Celebration of America’s Music” program.
The series
will feature documentary film screenings, scholar-led discussions and concerts
by local musicians of 20th-century American popular music.
“America’s
Music” seeks to enlighten and entertain audiences with images, thoughts and
sounds on America’s great music. Musical genres covered include blues and
gospel, Broadway and Tin Pan Alley, swing jazz, bluegrass, rock ‘n’ roll and
rock, mambo and hip hop.
Murfreesboro’s
celebration is one of 50 sites nationwide selected to host this program series.
“America’s Music” is a project by the Tribeca Film Institute in collaboration
with the American Library Association, Tribeca Flashpoint and the Society for
American Music. It has been made possible by a major grant from the National
Endowment for the Humanities.
“We are
thrilled to participate in this exciting program, which will explore and give
sound to the nation’s great music,” said Dale Cockrell, director of the Center
for Popular Music.
“America’s
Music,” designed for a general audience, will introduce genres of 20th-century
American popular music that are deeply connected to the history, culture and
geography of the United States. Older and younger Americans alike will have the
chance to recognize how the cultural landscape that they take for granted today
has been influenced by the development of the popular musical forms discussed
in this series.
Starting on March 21, Linebaugh Library will host weekly,
free film viewings on popular music, followed by a discussion led by Dr.
Felicia Miyakawa of MTSU’s School of Music. The Friday following each Thursday
film viewing will feature a concert by local musicians performing in the style
covered the day before. Among the performers lined up are The Olive Branch
Church Choir, the cast of “Jesus Christ Superstar,” two bluegrass/old-time
bands (Sweet Fancy Moses and Bradford Lee Folk and the Bluegrass Playboys), the
MTSU Jazz Combo, DJ Amerigo Gazaway (and B-boys), and 2nd and Vine (an MTSU
faculty rock band).
For
details, please visit http://popmusic.mtsu.edu, contact the Center for
Popular Music at 615-898-2449 or email ctrpopmus@mtsu.edu.
The Center
for Popular Music’s mission is to promote research in American vernacular music
and to foster an understanding and appreciation of America's diverse musical
culture. The Center maintains an archive of research materials
stretching from the early 18th century to the present and develops and sponsors
programs in vernacular
music.
Anyone is welcome to use the CPM’s collections and
services for research and scholarly pursuits.
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