Roots. As a little girl, Linda Lou Richardson couldn’t get enough of the tinny tunes coming from her parents’ old battery-operated radio. “LuLu” would dance through the house, clutching a ragged straw broom like a treasured guitar, singing along to Hank Williams Sr., live from the Grand Ole Opry.
“I’d just rip it up and down,” the lively 69-year-old chuckled. “When we were young, my dad said we could have a calf at 10 years old to sell and buy us something,” she shared. Her older brother got his first bicycle with his money. Sister got a watch with hers.
“When I turned 10 and got my calf money, I got my mother to order me my first real guitar from Sears Roebuck. I’ve been playin’ ever since.”
Like LuLu, each of us has early musical memories that form the “roots” of our own personal relationship with America’s rhythms. But, where did the beats, notes, melodies, the emotions really spring from?
Explore the answers Oct. 28 through Dec. 10, when the Smithsonian Institution traveling exhibit “New Harmonies: Celebrating America’s Roots Music” is hosted by the Columbus Arts Council at the Rosenzweig Arts Center in downtown Columbus. The exhibit is part of Museum on Main Street, a collaboration between the Smithsonian Institution and Mississippi Humanities Council.
At last
Excitement is running high at the Rosenzweig in these final days before Opening Weekend. New Harmonies has been a long time coming and has already generated hundreds of hours at the creative drawing board.
“Looking back two years, the process began with our application to be one of the few host sites in Mississippi,” said Elizabeth Johnson, president of the CAC board of directors. After selection in June 2010, volunteers began immediate preparation with an intense training workshop with the Mississippi Humanities Council in Jackson, and visited other cities to observe set-up and display.
“We’re very proud to be one of only six Mississippi sites chosen to host New Harmonies” said CAC Executive Director Tina Sweeten. “We hope everyone will not only come in to see the free exhibit, but that they’ll take advantage of all the extra events we’ve got planned.”
Intense effort has gone into designing a slate of related special performances, seminars and art exhibits to complement the six weeks of roots music exploration.
“We’ve worked hard to bring in artists and presenters that represent a wide range of the basic forms of American roots music from both a performance and educational aspect,” said the arts council’s New Harmonies coordinator, Beverly Norris. “I think people of all ages, races and backgrounds will find something to appeal to them.”
New Harmonies: The exhibit
Through portable kiosks, the interactive Smithsonian exhibit portrays the ongoing process that has made America the birthplace of more music than any place on earth.
Read of how rhythms and melodies from Europe and Africa were brought to these shores, where the American Indian already revered the heartbeat of a tribal drum. Pluck a diddly bow, “play” the tin rub board and hear clips of shape note singing, zydeco or polka.
Listen to America’s music and hear the story of freedom, reads the New Harmonies introduction. It’s the story of people in a new world, places they have left behind and ideas they have brought with them. It’s the story of people who were already here, but whose world is remade. The distinct cultural identities of all these people are carried in song — both sacred and secular.
Through a great multi-cultural cross-pollination, the music that emerged was known by names like blues, country western, folk and gospel. It’s a history of cultures reshaping their music and each other’s into the intricate compilation still evolving today. And Mississippi can be proud of its contributions
The free exhibit will be open to the public Tuesdays through Saturdays, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., Oct. 28-Dec. 10.
More than 50 volunteer docents from the community are ready to welcome the public and assist with tours, if desired. One of those is Joan Shepherd, who visited the exhibit in another city.
“New Harmonies is a remarkable collection of sounds and sights … a profoundly evocative and rich presentation of the music we all remember and love. I found it moving and went away with tunes and harmonies singing in my heart and soul and a new appreciation for their beginnings. Who knew that Mississippi had offered so much to our musical history?”
New harmonies: The events
Those wanting to get the most out of the New Harmonies experience will want to study the accompanying calendar of events. Many are free. Some require tickets.
Opening weekend Oct. 28-30 is a non-stop immersion into roots music, starting with the free grand opening reception Friday, followed by a concert by blues veteran Cadillac John Nolden and Delta bluesman Bill Abel.
Saturday can be an all-day affair. There’s a diddly bow workshop, a free “Delta Blues Today” seminar and performance, a stirring program by the Ole Miss African Dance and Drum Ensemble, and an evening with professional storyteller, Dolores Hydock of Birmingham, Ala..
Come back Sunday afternoon for free Gospel in the Gallery, followed by a concert by harpsichordist Jackie Edwards-Henry and friends in “Music from the British Isles to American Shores.”
“Months of planning went into the programs and concerts to complement the exhibit. They help highlight our local heritage and incorporate community participation,” Johnson noted.
Other area musicians (including Linda Lou) will shine in later programs, like the “Happy Flower Radio Hour,” an entertaining old time country western radio “show” Nov. 19. Then, there’s “The Road to Bluegrass” with Grand Ole Opry alumnus Jim Brock, Larry Wallace and Jimmy D. Brock Nov. 25. Young area musicians will be featured in the exhibit’s closing ceremony Dec. 10.
There are more free seminars and performances, including a rare opportunity when the Red Feather Dance Co. presents American Indian song and dance Dec. 9. The moving presentation at 7 p.m. at Rent Auditorium is free, sponsored by the Mississippi Humanities Council.
Package pricing is available for ticketed events. A one-time $55 six-week pass admits the holder to all programming (except a Make Your Own Diddly Bow workshop.) Smaller packages are also available. Of course, tickets can be purchased individually for events that require them. Purchase tickets online at columbus-arts.org, or at the arts center at 501 Main St.
Counting down
“We’re in full mode,” smiled Ralph Null, who chairs the Gallery Committee that will meet the big truck bringing the crated exhibit to Columbus this week. “We’re responsible for setting up not only the Smithsonian exhibit but the (simultaneous) Open Call interpretive art show, as well as the children’s interpretive art show.” These shows give area artists and students an opportunity to share their interpretations of personal new harmonies.
A major element of the arts council mission is education, and Education Chair Tavetia Hughes has been busy coordinating school group visits to the exhibit and some programs.
“Music is not only entertaining, but it tells a history,” said Hughes. “By coming to the exhibit or an event, students are getting not only an artistic lesson, but a history lesson as well.”
Norris concluded, “We’re so grateful to the Smithsonian Institution and the Mississippi Humanities Council for making New Harmonies possible. They’ve been immensely supportive throughout the whole process. Without them — and our other valuable sponsors — this exciting event wouldn’t be here in Columbus.”
Learn more about New Harmonies, or purchase event tickets, at columbus-arts.org.
Roots. Listen to America’s music and hear the story of freedom.
Jan Swoope is the Lifestyles Editor for The Commercial Dispatch.
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