Americas Music Series -- Oct. 31 | HCTC

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    Americas Music Series -- Oct. 31

    music Hazard Community and Technical College s fourth program in a series of six documentary film screenings and discussions on America s Music: A Film History of Our Popular Music from Blues to Bluegrass to Broadway will be held on Thursday, October 31 at 1 p.m. at the Kentucky School of Bluegrass and Traditional Music in Hyden. Additional programs will be hosted at KSBTM on November 5 at 6 p.m. and November 21 at 6 p.m.

    This screening from America s Music will feature historical highlights in the development of Country and Bluegrass from the film entitled High Lonesome: The Story of Bluegrass Music. Author Rachel Rubin offers this analysis of the musical style, The description commonly offered of Bluegrass that distinguishes it from mainstream country music is its high lonesome sound. This phrase was coined in 1963 by New Lost City Ramblers co-founder John Cohen, who used it to name a short film he made about Kentucky mountain music. The high lonesome sound quickly became a familiar catch-phrase for bluegrass music's emotionally intense, soaring-to-the-point-of-audible-strain vocal style, a style that often gives even happy songs an undercurrent of bleakness.

    Professor Ron Reed, program scholar for the series, will discuss this unique American musical genre. Performances by Bluegrass legend Bill Monroe will be featured. Dean Osborne, Director of the Kentucky School of Bluegrass and Traditional Music, KSBTM faculty and students will offer performances of new and old Bluegrass tunes as part of October 31 presentation.

    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 details, contact Cathy Branson at Cathy.Branson@kctcs.edu via email or call (800) 246-7521.