Chamber, Two Rivers Arts Council start concert series
Published 12:00 am Tuesday, May 20, 2008
Gennie.phillips@demopolistimes.com
DEMOPOLIS &8212; Flying Jenny, an old-time string band, will take the stage Thursday evening on the public square in Demopolis.
Flying Jenny, named after an old-fashioned mule-powered carnival ride, plays breakdowns on fiddle, guitar banjo and bass, and sings old songs, often comical, in three-part harmony. The group consists of Jim Cauthen, fiddler; Joyce Cauthen, guitarist; Duncan Blair, banjo; and Rachel Turner, bass guitarist.
Cauthen said concertgoers should expect to hear old-time mountain music, a kind of &8220;front porch music,&8221; she described.
Cauthen said the band presents a fun time.
Cauthen and her husband, Jim, traveled the state collecting songs from old-time fiddlers.
In addition to the music, a performance by Flying Jenny includes stories about the tunes and the fiddlers who first played them. They have done a number of thematic performances on such topics as Alabama history, folk art, early radio music, Christmas folk music, romance in old-time music, etc., and have collaborated with storyteller Dolores Hydock in &8220;Footprint on the Sky: Memories of a Chandler Mountain Spring,&8221; a piece in which tales, tunes and songs interact with each other to create a sense of life in an Alabama farming community. They have also provided background music for weddings, picnics, art openings and other social events.
There is no admission fee for the 6 p.m. performance. The Demopolis Area Chamber of Commerce, in partnership with the Two Rivers Arts Council, hosts the Sax in the City concert series in the spring and the fall.
Kelley Smith, president of the Chamber, said the council and the chamber have hosted this program in conjunction with one another since its beginning.
Sax in the City is an outdoor concert series, usually held in the downtown square on Walnut and Washington Streets in downtown Demopolis. Cowling said in case of rain the concert will be relocated inside Rooster Hall.
Smith said the Sax in the City program began five years ago and it has been a huge success.
The program offers the community a collection of concerts to attend and enjoy. Smith said people are encouraged to attend and enjoy the entertainment. The concert series usually hosts a set of two events in the spring and two events in the fall.
Smith said the concerts offer a wide variety of music genres for the community to experience. She said the group has hosted acts that have ranged from bluegrass to gospel, from acoustic guitar to jazz and solo jazz.
Cowling said preparations are underway for the concerts for the remainder of the series. She said Blues-legend Willie King, who performed in last spring&8217;s concert series, is on tap for an upcoming concert.