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Historic Asheville Sessions Project Information Session
August 15 @ 5:00 pm - 7:00 pm
The Blue Ridge Music Center and North Carolina Arts Foundation will host an information session about the Historic Asheville Sessions project from 5 to 7 p.m., Thursday, Aug. 15, at Citizen Vinyl in Asheville.
Historic Asheville Sessions Project Information Session
When: 5 to 7 p.m., Thursday, Aug. 15
Where: Citizen Vinyl, 14 O’Henry Ave., Asheville, N.C.
Admission: Free
Additional information: BlueRidgeMusicCenter.org
The public is invited to learn about the project, which presents, interprets, and celebrates recordings made by OKeh General Phonograph Corporation in the summer of 1925 in Western North Carolina. These sessions were the first performances of traditional music from the Southern Appalachians to be documented for commercial sale to a broader American audience. This event accelerated the evolution of American vernacular and homemade music into the emerging genre of country music, which is now known around the globe. Despite its historical importance, the OKeh recordings made in Asheville have never been reissued and the impacts of these sessions have never been publicly explored and presented. In fact, few North Carolinians are aware of this event of international significance.
The information session will feature presentations about the project and the significance of the sessions by Ted Olson and Wayne Martin. Guests will also hear a sampling of the songs recorded during the sessions.
