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New Harmonies:
Celebrating American Roots
Music Tour
2009-2010

The West Virginia Humanities Council has selected six community venues for a Council-sponsored state tour of the Smithsonian Institution traveling exhibit New Harmonies: Celebrating American Roots Music. The exhibit will travel the state from April of 2009 through January of 2010.

The community venues hosting the exhibit are:

Morgan County Public Library in Berkeley Springs
B&O Railroad Heritage Center in Grafton
Randolph County Community Arts Center in Elkins
Williamson Historical Foundation in Williamson
Youth Museum of Southern West Virginia in Beckley
Nicholas Old Main Foundation in Summersville

New Harmonies was developed especially for rural audiences and small institutions that typically do not have access to traveling exhibitions. It features recorded music stations, photos, objects, and text relating the stories of a variety of forms of roots music and performers the likes of Bill Monroe, Mahalia Jackson, Blind Willie Johnson, The Chuck Wagon Gang, The Carter Family, Bessie Smith, Bob Wills, Narciso Martinez, Woody Guthrie, and many others.

The Humanities Council will make available funds for host institutions to develop local companion displays and community programs expanding on the themes presented in the exhibit. Activities will include celebrations of local music traditions. All of the communities will be planning throughout 2008 to develop the local displays and programs.

The participating communities will also benefit from the expertise of one of West Virginia’s most respected bluegrass musicians, Buddy Griffin, who will be serving as the scholar for the tour. Griffin is a professor in the Fine Arts Department at Glenville State College where he directs the only bluegrass music college degree program in the country. He has traveled the United States for many years as a fiddler and banjo player with such major bluegrass groups as Jim and Jesse and the Virginia Boys and The Goins Brothers. He has been a frequent performer on the Grand Ole Opry, in Branson, Missouri, and also organizes music for the West Virginia State Folk Festival. Griffin will work with each of the tour sites to help them plan their local displays and programs.

Check back here for updates in the coming months, links to the New Harmonies venues, and details about the exact dates of display at each venue!

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