Country Music

Honkey Tonk Angels

Honky Tonk Angels’ musical will be performed Tuesday, April 17 at Pulaski Theatre

Posted April 9, 2012
“The Honky Tonk Angels” will be performed at Pulaski Theatre on April 17. Photo courtesy of Fine Arts Center for the New River Valley

The Fine Arts Center for the New River Valley and the Pulaski Theatre presents “The Honky Tonk Angels” on Tuesday, April 17, at 7 p.m.

It happens every day of every year. Somewhere in America, a girl quits her job, kisses her loved ones goodbye and climbs aboard a Nashville-bound Greyhound. And every day of every year, those girls arrive in Music City with little more than a dream to sustain them.

“Honky Tonk Angels” is a raucous and touching musical by the author of the hit Broadway show “Always, Patsy Cline,” and spotlights three women who gamble everything for a chance to become country music stars. The show is Ted Swindley’s funny and tender valentine to the female singers in the country music pantheon – many of whom rode that same bus from Anywhere, USA.

The show tells the story of three aspiring young singers who walk away from their work-a-day lives and head for Nashville. Hear the classic tunes of Tammy Wynette, Dolly Parton and Loretta Lynn as they were meant to be sung. “The Honky Tonk Angels” features powerhouse singer-actresses performing 20 country classics including “Stand by Your Man,” “Coal Miner’s Daughter,” “Harper Valley PTA,” “Nine-to-Five,” “Ode to Billie Joe” and “Harper Valley PTA.”

“ ‘The Honky Tonk Angels’ is a unique musical theatre entertainment,” says producer and director Paul R. Pierce. “It explores the unbridled desire that drives a poor young farm girl, a weary housewife or a stressed-out secretary to drop everything and roll the dice in the world’s most competitive and brutal industry – all for the love of music. Of course, the song list for this show reads like a Nashville greatest hits record, so ‘The Honky Tonk Angels’ is also a thrilling nostalgic journey for the audience.”

The show is produced by Springer Theatricals, the national touring unit of the Springer Opera House, the State Theatre of Georgia. The Springer is a 140-year-old National Historic Landmark with a year-round schedule of plays, musicals and a top-ranked theatre academy. The theatre also has one of the nation’s busiest touring schedules, performing in sixty American cities each year.

Since Reconstruction days, the Springer has been a cherished Southern cultural institution with the world’s most celebrated artists making pilgrimages to perform in the elegance of this famous theatre. From Edwin Booth, Lilly Langtry, George M. Cohan, Ethel Barrymore and Irving Berlin in the old days to more modern appearances by Truman Capote, Hal Holbrook, Burt Reynolds, Chet Atkins and Garrison Keillor, the Springer Theatre has been a centerpiece for the performing arts in the South since 1871.

“The Honky Tonk Angels” will be performed Tuesday, April 17, 2012 at 7:00 p.m. at the Pulaski Theatre, 14 West Main Street, Pulaski, VA 24301. Tickets for the show are $20 in advance and $22 at the door and are on sale now. Ticket outlets are Martin’s Pharmacy, Coffee Buy the Book and the Fine Arts Center in Pulaski and the Pulaski County Visitor Center in Dublin. Call 540-980-7363 for more information. Visit the Fine Arts Center on Facebook at www.facebook.com/facnrv.

– Submitted by Donna Rorrer, Fine Arts Center

The Crooked Road, Heartwood and Blue Ridge Traditional Arts arrive at The Pulaski Theatre

Roots of American Music Tour
Presented by The Crooked Road, Heartwood and Blue Ridge Traditional Arts


7:30 PM (doors open at 6:30)
$12 in advance or $15 at the door

Music from Ireland, Africa and The Blue Ridge:
Dale Jett
Mick Moloney
Cheick Hamala Diabate
Linda Lav
Sammy Shelor
Eddie Bond
Burl Rhea
Kirk Sutphin
Molly Slemp
Joey Abarta
Leigh Beamer

The Roots of American Music is a tour of 12 concerts celebrating the permanent exhibit of the same name opening May, 2011 at the Blue Ridge Music Center, located at Milepost 213 of the Blue Ridge Parkway, Galax, Va.

Roots of American Music salutes our region’s creation of the first truly American sound. Hear what happened when the European violin met the African banjo in an unforgettable performance by some of the finest Irish, African and Blue Ridge Mountain musicians playing today. Jig dancing, old ballads, uilleann piping, the griot’s twang; it is all here.

John Purser ; Bonnie Rideout & Scottish Music

We were blessed with a pair of wonderful guests today and the breakfast table fairly buzzed with wit , gaelic and music. Our family history of musical roots steeped
in the Scotch-Irish traditions goes back to Whitetop Mountain Virginia. This landmark was once owned by my Grandfather; John Blakemore; who also started one of the earliest folk festivals in America. That was the Whitetop Mountain Folk Festival and began in 1931. Eleanor Roosevelt visited there as did thousands of music makers.
John accompanied a legend in Scottish Fiddle Bonnie Rideout and it was a pleasure to meet them.

Here is a short bio on John Purser from the BBC.
“2007 marks a second bite at the Scotland’s Music apple for John. The first series aired on Radio Scotland in 1992 to wide acclaim, and his accompanying book earned him the 1993 McVitie’s Scottish Writer of the Year Award. He is currently writing a new, extended edition based on the research that informs his second Scotland’s Music series.

John has been creating award-winning radio since the seventies – as in Scotland’s Music, usually as writer, researcher and presenter. As well as for Radio Scotland, he has made programmes for Radio 3 and Radio 2, and his radio work has been aired as far afield as Ireland, New Zealand and even Iceland.

John Purser with Highland CowRadio is only one of John’s many passions. He is a composer, a poet and playwright, and a musicologist of some renown. He lectured on classical music for Glasgow University Extra-Mural Department, and has travelled the world lecturing and broadcasting on Scottish music. He also finds the time to raise Highland cattle on a croft near Elgol in Skye, with the help of his wife, Bar, and the occasional mucking in of extremely well-fed and watered guests.

John has recently been studying Gaelic at Sabhal Mòr Ostaig in Skye, and in 2006 he was appointed as a Research Fellow and Gaelic Music Course Director. He is one of the team of researchers undertaking the five-year research project, “Window to the West – towards a redefinition of the visual within Gaelic Scotland”, funded by the AHRC.”
We will talk about Bonnie Rideout and her wonderful accomplishments in the next post.

A closer walk with Patsy Cline

A closer walk with Patsy Cline
A CLOSER WALK WITH PATSY CLINE is sanctioned by the Patsy Cline Estate and is licensed exclusively through Marquis Entertainment. Wholly owned by Lutvick Productions.

PROFILES

Katie Deal (Patsy Cline)
Katie Deal is delighted to return to the Springer for her second national tour of A Closer Walk with Patsy Cline. A native of Gainesville, GA, Katie is proud to represent the State Theatre of Georgia with this historical and heartwarming show. Country music runs through her veins so portraying Patsy is always an honor. Katie has been lucky enough to perform nationally and internationally, as this legendary singer.
Now she is coming to the New River Valley and Pulaski Theatre for a Tuesday Feburary 1st Show at 7pm. Tickets are 18 advance and 22 at the door.Contact the Theater at WWW.PulaskiTheatre.org . For more on Katie and her upcoming shows, visit www.katiedeal.com. Now, come on in and enjoy the show, Hoss!

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