Bon Iver’s Justin Vernon goes Southern for Vivid LIVE this weekend
Bringing together a varied troupe of folk, blues and jazz musicians from across Canada and the USA, Sounds of the South is set to recreate the Alan Lomax songbook for Australian audiences on the 1st and 2nd of June.
With a widely respected group of musicians, including Bon Iver’s Justin Vernon, Frazey Ford of The Be Good Tanyas, acclaimed jazz collective Fight the Big Bull and Megafaun from South Carolina, Sounds of the South promises a magical evening of blues, folk and Americana.
The Sounds of the South story begins in the summer of 1959, when pioneering archivist and ethnomusicologist Alan Lomax embarked on a two month venture through Virginia, the Mississippi Delta and the Georgia Sea Islands. As he went, Lomax captured a landmark series of recordings, documenting the rich and rapidly disappearing folk musical traditions of the American South.
These recordings would soon capture the imaginations of a new generation of aspiring folk musicians, according to Bob Dylan, ‘Alan unlocked the secrets of this kind of music – if we’ve got anybody to thank, it’s Alan.’
Now, a new set folk musicians have breathed new life into Alan’s highly revered collection of old-time hymns, deep delta blues and plaintive folk ballads. An Australian premiere exclusive to Vivid LIVE, for Sounds of the South a new community of folk-rock legends and breakthrough singer-songwriters join forces for a spellbinding concert celebrating smoky storytelling and porch side songwriting.
Check out the group getting into a hoedown at the 2011 MusicNow Festival in Cincinnati:
What: Sounds of the South featuring Justin Vernon, Frazey Ford, Fight the Big Bull and Megafaun
Where: Sydney Opera House Concert Hall
When: Saturday the 1st and Sunday the 2nd of June