A concert by local musician Evo Bluestein and friends will launch the new Music of America Concert Series at Fresno State.
Coinciding with Earth Day, the concert will be at 7 p.m. Saturday, April 22, in the Wahlberg Recital Hall in the Music building at Fresno State. Performers will include Bluestein, Terry Barrett, Barry Shultz, Patricia Wells-Solarzano and Agustin Lira, Two for the Road and The Gilly Girls.
Dr. John Karr, who teaches music history and ethnomusicology at Fresno State, said the Music of America series will be devoted to traditional American music — bluegrass, folk, blues, gospel, country, mariachi, music nortena, zydeco — that is largely underrepresented in concert programming in the Central Valley.
“This is the music of our country but is so seldom heard because it is not commercially competitive with rock, hip hop or other types of music,” Karr said. “I believe this music represents our history and our culture and tells us much about the grand diversity of who we are as Californians and as Americans. Could anything be more relevant in a time as divisive as this?”
Karr said the eventual plan is to offer four or five concerts a year in the series with a variety of musical offerings. A trial concert with an old-time blues and country band from Los Angeles called The Americans was held last year, and Karr said a blues concert is in the planning stage for September.
Bluestein, a longtime folk musician and music educator, has a book coming out later this year called “Road to Sweet’s Mill: Folk Music in the West During the 1960s and ’70s.” The book, which will be published by The Press at California State University, Fresno, is a study of the regional folk subculture of the era with archival recordings, photos, interviews and more.
Those who attend the concert can sign up to be notified when the book is available, Bluestein said.
The concert is sponsored by Fresno State’s College of Arts and Humanities, the Department of Music and the Music of America Concert Series.
Tickets are $10 for general admission, $7 for employees and seniors and free to students, and can be purchased online. For more information, contact Karr at jkarr@csufresno.edu or 559.278.7255.
