'Rhythm & Roots: Southern Music' Exhibit
Wednesday, August 18, through Saturday, September 25
DCC Visitors Center
141 Cherry Street
HELENA-WEST HELENA – The new “Rhythm & Roots: Southern Music” exhibit examines the rich variety of traditionally recognized Southern music forms – including blues, bluegrass, Cajun, country, gospel, Appalachian, and bluegrass — as well as musical traditions less readily associated with the South, including the cultural sounds of Native American, Asian, Caribbean, and Latino communities. The exhibit was created by South Arts, the Atlanta-based regional arts organization.
“Rhythm & Roots is a tribute to all of the musical forms that come together to create the Southern sound,” says Gerri Combs, executive director of South Arts. “The Rhythm & Roots exhibit, part of our Southern Visions program, showcases key Southern musicians and the instruments they play.”
The exhibit is augmented by handheld audio guides that allow museum visitors to hear samples of the music referenced in “Rhythm & Roots.” Also, the DCC is displaying a number of related museum artifacts with the exhibit.
Among musicians recognized in “Rhythm & Roots” as early Southern innovators are: Thomas A. Dorsey, the prolific songwriter called the “father of African-American gospel music” (and a blues performer earlier in his career); pioneer Mississippi Delta blues singer, songwriter, musician, and recording artist Charley Patton; Kentucky thumb-picking guitarist Arnold Schultz; and North Carolina banjo pickers Dewitt “Snuffy” Jenkins and Earl Scruggs, both of whom drew on local traditions in which players plucked the strings with the thumb, index and middle fingers.
The exhibit also notes two musicians who brought the unique sounds of their homes to Northern audiences -- Dewey Balfa, who pioneered Cajun music performance outside Louisiana, and Wade Mainer, whose bluegrass sounds entertained Michigan and Ohio industrial workers in live settings and on record. Cherokee musician Walker Calhoun and the music of the corn dance are noted, as is the increasingly international flavor of music in the multicultural South.
“Rhythm & Roots” is the latest addition to South Arts’ Southern Visions: The Southern Arts & Culture Traveling Exhibits Program. Since 1995, Southern Visions has provided more than 500,000 people with access to exhibits celebrating the South’s artistry and cultural heritage. “Rhythm & Roots: Southern Music” is presented in partnership with the National Endowment for the Arts. Additional corporate support was provided by Hart Law Firm of Atlanta.
Gallery hours at the DCC Visitors Center at 141 Cherry Street and the nearby DCC Depot at 95 Missouri Street are 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesdays through Saturdays. “King Biscuit Time,” the nation’s longest-running blues radio program, is hosted each weekday at the DCC Visitor’s Center by “Sunshine” Sonny Payne, from 12:15 to 12:45 p.m. “Delta Sounds,” hosted by DCC Assistant Director Terry Buckalew and Payne, is broadcast each Friday at 1 to 1:30 p.m.
For more information, call the Delta Cultural Center at (870) 338-4350 or toll free at (800) 358-0972, visit the DCC online at www.deltaculturalcenter.com, or email info@deltaculturalcenter.com. Interested persons can contact Blues Bayou at (870) 405-4979.
The Delta Cultural Center shares the vision of all seven agencies of the Department of Arkansas Heritage – to preserve and promote Arkansas heritage as a source of pride and satisfaction. Other agencies within the department are the Historic Arkansas Museum, the Mosaic Templars Cultural Center, the Old State House Museum, the Arkansas Historic Preservation Program, the Arkansas Arts Council, and the Natural Heritage Commission.