September Brings Sounds of Mountain Music to Louisville

Kentucky Mountain Music Festival Coming to the Clifton Center September 19-20

The Clifton Center, located at 227 Payne Street, has teamed up with the Association for Cultural Equity to host a two-day celebration of eastern Kentucky’s rich musical heritage on Friday and Saturday, September 19-20, 2014. The festival, titled “I’ve Rambled This Country Both Early & Late: A Celebration of Kentucky Mountain Music,” will include performances by John Harrod, Ron Pen, Anna Roberts-Gevalt, and the Red State Ramblers, as well as a community dance, film screenings, “shape note” singing, instrument workshops, and panel discussions. Admission to all festival events are “Pay What You Will.” Tickets will be available for purchase at the Clifton Center box office during the festival. More information is available online at www.cliftoncenter.org.

In the 1930s, folklorist Alan Lomax traveled the hills of eastern Kentucky, making field recordings that captured performances by people who were part of a seemingly endless cultural journey. These farmers, coal miners, and shop keepers carried on a musical legacy born in another world and nurtured for uncounted generations in the heart of Appalachia. It is a legacy that continues to this day.

In 2013, the Lomax Archive began repatriating these invaluable cultural resources to repositories across Kentucky, and as part of that process the Clifton Center will bring together some of our region’s most knowledgeable practitioners of one of America’s most significant cultural assets.

The Clifton Center’s programming is made possible by the help of generous supporters including: MINI of Louisville, Louisville Metro Government, Brown-Forman, DD Williamson, Republic Bank, Target Corporation, Joe Hayden Real Estate Team, the Louisville Water Company, Carmichael’s Bookstore, LEO Weekly, 91.9 WFPK and the Friends of the Clifton Center. The Kentucky Arts Council, the state arts agency, also provides operating support to the Clifton Center with state tax dollars and federal funding from the National Endowment for the Arts.