MyAmerica Project Explores Southern Music and Cultural Heritage

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — The University of Arkansas Division of Student Affairs and the Walton Arts Center are pleased to announce collaborative activities for the MyAmerica Project: Exploring Southern Music and Culture. The MyAmerica Project is a series of performances and activities designed to explore Southern music and heritage. Members of the university and northwest Arkansas communities will be entertained and learn from scheduled artists and performers with connections to Arkansas and the South. University of Arkansas students will be exposed to new educational and social environments by participating in the MyAmerica Project both at the Walton Arts Center and on campus. Scheduled performances and activities for Fall 2007 include:

Blues in Arkansas and the Ozark Region

Blues display from the University of Arkansas department of special collections containing photos, sheet music and other artifacts documenting Blues in Arkansas and the Ozark region.

Helen Walton Reading Room, Mullins Library

Hours: Open 7 a.m. to midnight, Monday through Thursday; 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. Fridays; 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturdays; and noon to midnight Sundays.

Solid Blues featuring Mavis Staples, Charlie Musselwhite, Joe Krown and the North Mississippi Allstars

Solid Blues brings together Mavis Staples, Charlie Musselwhite, the North Mississippi Allstars and Joe Krown in their first-ever tour together. Mavis Staple was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 1999, she received three Grammy nominations in 2004, and has won a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award. Charlie Musselwhite is an eight-time Grammy-nominee and has also won Lifetime Achievement Awards from the Monterey Blues Festival and the San Javiar Jazz Festival in Spain. Joe Krown has recorded with innumerable other artists, including Carlos Santana, Eric Clapton, Buddy Guy, Dr. John, and B.B. King. Krown’s latest CD is Livin’ Large with the Joe Krown Organ Combo. The North Mississippi Allstars have had three Grammy nominations for Best Contemporary Blues Album for their debut recording, Shake Hands with Shorty in 2001, Phantom 51 in 2003, and their latest recording, Electric Blue Watermelon in 2005.

Tickets: $24 — available at the Walton Arts Ticket Box Office or online at http://tickets.waltonartscenter.org/

Gloryland with Anonymous 4

Renowned for their unearthly vocal blend and virtuosic ensemble singing, the four women of Anonymous 4 combine musical, literary and historical scholarship with contemporary performance intuition as they create ingeniously designed programs, interweaving music with poetry and narrative.

Tickets: $10 for students — available at the Walton Arts Ticket Box Office or online at http://tickets.waltonartscenter.org/

The music of the Man in Black ignites the stage in the new Broadway musical Ring of Fire, featuring 38 signature songs from the legendary Johnny Cash. Stories of passion, redemption, humor and salvation set the stage a blaze in this musical celebration of an Arkansas son and the world’s most famous rebel. Hits include: “Walk the Line,” “Hurt,” “Jackson,” “I’ve Been Everywhere,” “Folsom Prison Blues,” “A Boy Named Sue,” and the title track “Ring of Fire.”

Tickets: $34 to $46 — available at the Walton Arts Ticket Box Office or online at http://tickets.waltonartscenter.org/