A BENEFIT CONCERT FOR
Connecticut Audubon Society’s The Pomfret Center
Presented at the Audubon Pomfret Center
218 Day Road, Pomfret Center, Pomfret, CT 06259
Woodstock, Connecticut’s own Jeff Davis, and Brian Peters will present a pictorial and musical program on traditional music from the collection made by Cecil Sharp in the Appalachian Mountains between 1916 and 1918. “English folk song collector Cecil Sharp and his secretary, Maud Karpeles, made trips into the Appalachians to seek old British ballads that had been carried there by emigrants 150 years earlier, and still survived vigorously in oral tradition.” This program is an introduction to the stupendous collection they amassed. The program includes Sharp’s stunning photos of the singers and players, some of Sharp and Karpeles’ notebook annotations. Vocals by Jeff and Brian, with fiddle, banjos, guitar, spoons, jaw’s harp, mandocello, and concertina.
This concert will be the opening salvo of a three week trip up and down the East Coast performing (mostly) this multi-media presentation of Sharp’s Appalachian collection. In July, after a presentation at the Library of Congress of Sharp’s Appalachian Harvest, Steve Winnick, of the L. of C., said,
“Brian Peters and Jeff Davis’s presentation . . . was a highlight of our concert season. Both Davis and Peters combine true mastery of the material with a rare degree of curiosity and erudition concerning the folksong tradition. The duo’s ability to play a wide range of instruments, sing in both British and American styles, and breath life into the witty words of Sharp and Karpeles added up to a delightfully varied performance, as entertaining and as fascinating as any history book. The photos . . . added visual appeal and extra insight into the lives of the extraordinarily talented yet largely unknown people from whom we got this treasure-trove of song.”
In a review, Lisa Null said,
“What made [the performance] unique was their focus on the human interactions behind the songs– photos of the musicians and singers, excerpts from Sharp’s diaries, landscape shots–all intertwined with the songs themselves. What made it wonderful was the unaffected but subtle musicianship– some evoking Appalachian styles and some riding on material in novels ways. The program . . . was a smash hit–if standing ovations and a packed hall was any indication. We were all smiling.”
The program is a benefit for the Pomfret’s Audubon Center. Please come out and help support the wonderful Preserve.
For tickets and information, contact the Audubon Society’s Center at Pomfret: 860-928-4948.
Directions: From the intersection of Routes 101 and 169, take Route 169 North. Take the first right onto Day Road. Follow for approximately one mile to stop sign. Turn right continuing on Day Road less than one quarter mile up on the right.
For information about the Audubon Society’s The Pomfret Center, see their website: www.ctaudubon.org Click on the Locations button and pursue to the Center at Pomfret page.
For more information and complaints, please call Jeff Davis at 860 928 6668.