Short Takes: A Glimpse at Weekend Entertainment

VIRGINIA BALLROOM
Music in the Mountain Empire grows as if from the limbs of trees. Shake one, and a band’s liable to fall out, playing hotter than bacon grease.
Three of those hot pickers hope to sizzle during this month’s installment of the Virginia Ballroom Concert Series. Slated for May 21 in Abingdon, Ryan Ward headlines, while David and Ann Ledgerwood open.
Hailing from Emory, Va., the Ledgerwoods dip into easy-on-the-ears fare mostly from the 1960s and ’70s. Don’t expect bulldozing Black Sabbath-like metal from them.
Ditto Ward, whose style emerges from such influences as Fleetwood Mac’s Lindsey Buckingham and Pink Floyd.
Together, Ward and the Ledgerwoods underscore the fact that this region begat more than just bluegrass.

IF YOU GO
What: Virginia Ballroom Concert Series featuring Ryan Ward and The Ledgerwoods
When: May 21, 7:30 p.m.
Where: The Senior Center, 300 Senior Drive, Abingdon
Admission: $6 for adults, children under age 12 admitted free
Info: (276) 628-3911
Web and Ward audio and video: www.myspace.com/acousticacrobat

AMERICAN AS APPLE PIE
Discipline, talent and effort meet Americana during Highlands Ballet’s spring recital.
Scheduled for May 23 at the Paramount Center for the Arts in Bristol, Tenn., Highlands offers “American as Apple Pie.”
Featuring music strictly from the talents of American composers, the performance melds the grace of ballet with pride in country, particularly in a finale based on the compositions of John Phillip Sousa.
There’s more. The second half will feature the choreographing talents of Sean Hilton. Mix in a myriad of jazz and contemporary pieces. Altogether, call it talent on its toes – literally and figuratively.

IF YOU GO
What: Highlands Ballet spring recital, presenting “American as Apple Pie”
When: May 23, 4 p.m.
Where: Paramount Center for the Arts, 518 State St., Bristol, Tenn.
Admission: $10 for adults, $8 for seniors and students, $6 for children under age 12
Info: (423) 274-8920
Web: www.highlandsballet.com

MADAFO
Before television, computers, phones, video games and such, storytelling enriched lives all over the world. From campfires to front porches, America to Africa, oral tradition entertained and informed.
For nearly 30 years, Madafo Lloyd Wilson has combined storytelling with music for insights into his African heritage.
Billed as Madafo, the spirited storyteller will appear from May 26-30 at the International Storytelling Center in Jonesborough, Tenn.
Madafo’s stories open windows of insight into African culture. Litanies of principles, traditions and values emerge via such stories as “The Greedy Hyena.” In short, pride and purpose emerge from Madafo’s stories like paths to multiples of understanding.

IF YOU GO
Who: Madafo
When: May 26-30, 2 p.m. daily
Where: International Storytelling Center, 116 W. Main St., Jonesborough, Tenn.
Admission: $10 for adults, $9 for seniors, students and children under age 18
Info: (423) 753-2171
Web and audio storytelling samples: www.madafo.com

MUSIC NOTES
-- Response to the 100th birthday of Maybelle Carter and the subsequent article that ran in the Bristol Herald Courier on May 3 proved enormous. And delayed. John Sebastian, a founding member of Rock and Roll Hall of Fame rock band the Lovin’ Spoonful, called on Monday afternoon to chat about Carter.
“The Carter Family in general is so important in the history of the collection process that we owe them all an incredible debt,” Sebastian said. “But specifically, Mother Maybelle, using this guitar finger picking style to play the autoharp riveted me as a teenager.”
Sebastian’s Lovin’ Spoonful enjoyed a career with such timeless tunes as “Do You Believe In Magic” and “Summer In the City.” However, he said that lineage to their hit “Nashville Cats” leads to the Carter Family.
“I think you can draw a straight line from the Carters and Mother Maybelle and Sara Carter to Luther Perkins and the Sun Records world,” Sebastian said, “and you can draw it straight from Luther Perkins to ‘Nashville Cats,’ which was us trying to imitate Luther Perkins.”
-- Pokey LaFarge kicked off this year’s Border Bash series of monthly concerts in downtown Bristol on May 15. An apropos to Bristol performance, LaFarge’s fare draws almost entirely from sounds of the 1920s and ’30s, including that of Jimmie Rodgers.
LaFarge, who will perform three times during the Rhythm and Roots Reunion in September, entertained a handful of folks gathered in the State Street loft apartment of Eric and Christina Blevins on the night of May 14. As the Paramount’s sign flashed over his left shoulder, pizzazz reverberated from LaFarge’s take on such songs as Rodgers’ “In the Jailhouse Now.” Mighty fine.
-- Likewise, the free downloads of the week. Country fans can boot scoot over to www.countryweekly.com/freemusic for such free MP3 downloads as “Family Ties” from Dolly Parton’s sister Stella Parton and “Outskirts of Blue” from young upstarts The Greencards.
Digest all that? Good. Check back next week for more Short Takes and rockin’, rollin’ Music Notes. Meantime, read on and by all means, stay tuned.