Tuesday, August 19
7:00 pm - 9:00 pm
Waiting List: Compton & Newberry August 19
Photo Credit: Scott Simontacchi
Do you love the down-home charm of music in NPR’s A Prairie Home Companion, the film O Brother Where Art Thou? or the Grand Ol’ Opry?
Then don’t miss the upcoming appearance of Compton & Newberry, whose rich vocals and virtuosic music reflect a deep reverence for traditional American music — full of heart, history and the spirit of the front porch. Mike Compton and Joe Newberry collaborate with a vision that is both modern and ageless, digging deep into early country music, blues, and other heartbeat sounds of the bluegrass tradition.
Bluegrass Today says of Compton and Newberry: “Real music performed by artists with a deep appreciation for the folk traditions that came before them… They pull off what’s almost impossible these days: honest, genuine music that will get your soul dancing.”
Join us for a magical evening as we welcome back Compton & Newberry for another memorable concert!
Meet the Artists:
Mike Compton — Known as a modern master of the mandolin, Compton is one of today’s foremost interpreters of the father of Bluegrass, Bill Monroe and his genre-creating mandolin style.
Students from around the world make a pilgrimage to his annual Monroe Mandolin Camp in Nashville, TN, where Compton and a handful of experts teach everything from the basics of bluegrass mandolin to the most intimate details of Monroe’s endlessly inspiring style.
A native of Mississippi, Compton picked up the mandolin in his teens and absorbed the area’s native blues, old-time country and bluegrass sounds. He soon gravitated to Nashville and helped found one of the 20th century’s most admired and influential bluegrass groups, the Nashville Bluegrass Band.
When A-list producer T-Bone Burnett needed experts in authentic rural musical styles to anchor the landmark O Brother, Where Art Thou? movie project, he called upon Compton’s unique knowledge and signature mandolin style to authenticate the movie’s rootsy sound. That Grammy Award Album of the Year went on to sell 7 million copies and sparked a global revival in old-time bluegrass musical styles.
Joe Newberry — Known around the world for his clawhammer banjo playing, Newberry is also a powerful guitarist, singer and songwriter. The Gibson Brothers’ version of his song Singing As We Rise, featuring guest vocalist Ricky Skaggs, won the 2012 IBMA Gospel Recorded Performance Award. With Eric Gibson, he shared the 2013 IBMA Song of the Year Award for They Called It Music.
Growing up in a family full of singers and dancers, Joe took up the guitar and banjo as a teenager and learned fiddle tunes from great Missouri fiddlers. He moved to North Carolina as a young man and quickly became an anchor of the incredible music scene in the state.
A longtime and frequent guest on A Prairie Home Companion, he was a featured singer on the Transatlantic Sessions 2016 tour of the U.K. with fiddler Aly Bain and Dobro master Jerry Douglas, and at the Transatlantic Session’s debut at Merlefest in 2017 with fellow singers James Taylor, Sarah Jarosz, Declan O’Rourke, Karen Matheson, and Maura O’Connell.
The Allen and Helen Hermes Arts Series was founded in 2003, and is funded by a generous gift the couple donated to the Mark Twain Library. The mission of the series is to enrich the quality of life in the community of Redding by producing and supporting events in the visual, literary, theater and musical arts.
Registration is full for this event.