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Musicians Carol Rifkin and Jeanette Queen will perform for the Cradle of Forestry in America's annual Songcatchers Music Series Sunday, July 22.
Now in its 16th year, the series is held each Sunday afternoon in July, beginning at 4:00 p.m. It honors traditional mountain music and the talented performers who preserve it, share it, and make it their own. The Songcatchers Music Series is an official event of the Blue Ridge Music Trails of North Carolina, http://www.blueridgemusicnc.com/
Carol Rifkin and Jeanette Queen bring to their Songcatchers Music Series concert a shared love of old tunes and the people they learned them from. They have enjoyed playing music and singing harmony together over many years. Being all about the song, they enjoy singing the often forgotten words to fiddle tunes they play. Carol and Jeanette play guitar, fiddle, and banjo in whatever combination fits the song or tune.
Carol Rifkin received the 2013 Bascom Lamar Lunsford Award for her significant contribution to the art of Appalachian culture. In addition to sharing tradition music and teaching dance, she researches and writes about the history behind mountain music, with more than 1,000 stories published in newspapers and magazines including the Asheville Citizen Times, Acoustic Guitar, and Sing Out. This early member of the former Green Grass Cloggers Professional Road Team worked solo with Tommy Jarrell, Doc Watson, and many bands, appeared in the 2000 film "Songcatcher" and the 1985 British documentary "Down Home, Appalachia to Nashville" with Jarrell. She often features local musicians as a co-host of WNCW's This Old Porch radio show.
A member of the legendary Queen Family, Jeanette learned to play and sing in the Queen family band in Jackson County, NC. The daughter of the late 2007 National Heritage Award winner Mary Jane Queen and Claude Queen, Jeanette grew up one of eight children in the mountain wilds, with music ever-present in the home. She carries forward seven generations of traditions learned from her mother, an influential ballad singer who delighted audiences with her concert at the Cradle of Forestry in 2003, the Songcatchers Music Series' debut year.
Concerts take place in the Cradle's covered outdoor amphitheater and move indoors if the weather is stormy. The stage show begins with warm-up music at 4:00. Carol Rifkin and Jeanette Queen play from about 4:30 to 5:30 p.m. Local old-time musicians are often on-site to jam informally at 3:00 p.m. before the concert.
Concert-goers are welcome to arrive early and enjoy indoor and outdoor exhibits, two interpretive trails, the Giving Tree gift shop, and food from the Café at the Cradle, open 11am to 3pm. Some bring cushions for the concrete seating in the amphitheater. The site, including the amphitheater, is wheelchair accessible.
The series continues with Bob Bovee on July 29.
Admission for all shows is $10.00 regular; $5.00 for youth ages 4-12, America the Beautiful and Golden Age pass holders, and Friends of the Cradle members. The Cradle of Forestry is located on Hwy. 276 in the Pisgah National Forest, six miles north of Looking Glass Falls and four miles south of the Blue Ridge Parkway. For more information call 828-877-3130 or go to www.cradleofforestry.com.
