Americas Music featured Sept. 19 in Hyden

Hazard Community and Technical College will host the America s Music: A Film History of Our Popular Music from Blues to Bluegrass to Broadway series to enlighten audiences about uniquely American musical genres including blues and gospel, Broadway, jazz, bluegrass and country, rock n roll, mambo, and hip hop.

The first program, The Blues and Gospel Music will be held on Thursday, September 19, at the Kentucky School of Bluegrass and Traditional Music in Hyden. The program will begin at 6 p.m.

HCTC Libraries was awarded a $1,500 grant to host a six-week program series featuring documentary film screenings and scholar-led discussions of twentieth-century American popular music.

We are thrilled to participate in this exciting program that will help introduce different types of music, show how modern music has been influenced by older styles, and bridge gaps among generations, said Cathy Branson, Director of Library Services. Professor Ron Reed will serve as the program scholar. The programs will be hosted at the Kentucky School of Bluegrass and Traditional Music. Dean Osborne, Director of KSBTM, an enthusiastic supporter of the project, will be playing a key role in the upcoming presentations.

America s Music, designed for a general audience, will introduce genres of twentieth-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.
HCTC Libraries is one of 81 organizations 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. America s Music has been made possible by a major grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities: Exploring the Human Endeavor.

For program materials or details, contact Cathy Branson at Cathy.Branson@kctcs.edu or phone (800) 246-7521.