We are pleased to announce our eighth season of Learned Place house concerts, and it’s a great program we have lined up.  We also want to tell you about Doe Branch Ink, our brand new writers’ retreat program opening this fall in Madison County, about 30 miles north of Asheville.  First, of course, the music . . . .

This Year’s Concert Schedule:

Krüger Brothers

Friday, September 10, 8:00 (Doors Open 7:30), $30

http://krugerbrothers.com

Jens, Uwe and Joel honor us once again for a magical evening.  A sure sell-out within a few days of announcing our season, so let us know quickly if you are interested.  Maximum of four seats per reservation, and we will give priority to supporters who reserve places in multiple concerts.

“The Krüger Brothers are nothing short of magnificent, the classiest of acts as can be found on today’s bluegrass and acoustic scene. Their music defies description. Especially when one considers it’s made by a trio. The Krügers’ sound is both intense and tranquil, it’s classic, classy and classical, and it’s jazzy and grassy — all at the same time and packed into one CD or one of the brothers’ mesmerizing concerts.” — Dan Tackett, Bluegrass Journal.

We are fortunate that the Krüger Brothers have played in our series each year since we began, and each concert is a new experience.  The only constant is their consummate performance and their warm, embracing spirit.

The Steep Canyon Rangers

Saturday, December 4, 7:30 (Doors Open 7:00), $30

http://www.steepcanyon.com/

From Asheville, North Carolina, Steep Canyon Rangers spent the last year touring nationally and internationally with banjo sensation Steve Martin, winner of a 2010 Grammy award.  Playing to rave revues at every appearance, the wonderful playing and singing of the Steep Canyon Rangers have earned equal praise for the band.  Even without Steve Martin (we can hope, right?) these guys are superb entertainers; you will have some big laughs to go with awe-struck listening.  Before being nominated for two International Bluegrass Music awards in 2008 (including Album of the Year, ”Lovin’ Pretty Women”), the Rangers were named ’Emerging Artist of the Year’ in 2006 at the IBMA awards ceremony in Nashville, TN. The group has been regularly featured on the Grand Ole Opry, as well as at major U.S. Bluegrass and Americana music festivals such as MerleFest, Telluride, Grey Fox, DelFest and RockyGrass.

The band includes three UNC graduates, and we are thrilled to welcome them back for their third appearance in the Learned Place House Concerts series.

Marshall Chapman

Saturday, January 22, 7:30 (Doors Open 7:00), $30

http://www.tallgirl.com/

Marshall Chapman was born and raised in Spartanburg, South Carolina. To date she has released eleven critically acclaimed albums, and her songs have been recorded by a number of artists including Emmylou Harris, John Hiatt, Wynonna, Joe Cocker, Irma Thomas, Jimmy Buffett, Jessi Colter, Dion, Tanya Tucker, Russ Taff, Olivia Newton-John, Sawyer Brown, Mindy McCready, Conway Twitty, Greg “Fingers” Taylor, Crystal Gayle, Ronnie Milsap, and The Uppity Blues Women. She has toured extensively on her own and opened shows for everybody from John Prine and Jimmy Buffett to Jerry Lee Lewis and The Ramones.  But this is only the half of it.  Marshall’s wide ranging interests and talents have led to many other accomplishments including two highly regarded books about the music scene, publications in national magazines, collaboration with Matraca Berg, Jill McCorkle and Lee Smith on the musical Good Ol’ Girls, and a movie role in Acting Strong.

We are delighted to host Marshall in Durham, where she has many friends and will soon have many more.  You won’t want to miss this engaging, witty, wise and multi-talented performer.

Wayne Henderson and Helen White

Friday, March 4, 8:00 (Doors Open 7:30), $30

http://www.waynehenderson.org/Wayne/AboutWayne.htm

Wayne Henderson’s top-notch finger-picking is a source of great pleasure and pride to his friends, family, and neighbors in Grayson County, Virginia; his guitar playing has also been enjoyed at Carnegie Hall, in three national tours of “Masters of the Steel-String Guitar,” and in seven nations in Asia. In addition to his reputation as a guitarist, Henderson is a luthier of great renown. He is a recipient of a 1995 National Heritage Award presented by the National Endowment for the Arts. He produces about 20 instruments a year, mostly guitars; he is almost as well-known for the mandolins he has made. He is featured in the 2005 book Clapton’s Guitar: Watching Wayne Henderson Build the Perfect Instrument, which followed Henderson’s master work making a guitar for Eric Clapton.  He is also reputed to be quite the storyteller!

Helen White is an award-winning singer, multi-instrumentalist, and composer, and one of the founders of North Carolina’s Junior Appalachian Musicians program.  Helen has toured extensively with Wayne in the U.S. and Europe.

We look forward to welcoming Helen and Wayne to our series.

Big Medicine

Saturday, May 7, 7:30 (Doors Open 7:00), $30

http://www.bigmedmusic.com/

Big Medicine consistently serves up a powerful potpourri of authentic old-time mountain music, early style bluegrass, original songs, and some surprises. For over a decade the band has been one of the most influential old-time bands in the contemporary American traditional music scene. Since coming together in last year of the last millennium, Big Medicine has released three critically acclaimed albums and have performed for concerts, dances, festivals across the US and overseas. The band’s instrumental dexterity, powerful singing, and authenticity combined with a lively creativity in their interpretation of traditional music have won them fans and critical praise nationwide as well as overseas. Music critics and reviewers describe Big Medicine’s blend of fiddle tunes, ballads, heart songs, hymns, and early bluegrass as “joyful,” “impressive,” “spirited,” and “powerful.” And from the stage of A Prairie Home Companion, Garrison Keillor said of Big Medicine “That’s how string band music is supposed to sound… absolutely effortless. They’re just a great band – I love this band.”

Members of the band are some of the most highly-regarded performers on the traditional music scene today. All four are veteran multi-instrumentalists and singers who are steeped in the ruggedly beautiful old-time music of the southern Appalachian and Ozark regions.

We are particularly pleased to welcome Joe Newberry back to Learned Place — Joe also plays with members of the original Red Clay Ramblers, the ensemble that kicked off our season last year.

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This information is also on our website http://learnedplacemusic.net  — please feel free to share it with others.  For reservations, please email info@learnedplacemusic.net.  We’ll confirm availability and provide payment information.  Also, if you do not want to receive these emails you can let us know or unsubscribe yourself on the website.

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We are excited about launching the first year of the Doe Branch Ink writer’s retreat with our son Nick — himself a fiction writer.  If you have an idea you’ve wanted to explore, a project that’s been in the drawer too long or a manuscript that just needs finishing touches, please consider a week at Doe Branch.  We’ve lined up eight great writers-in-residence to serve as mentors for groups of 8 to 10 writers in a beautiful mountain setting.  The website is http://doebranchink.org.  If you are interested, let us know by writing to us at doebranchink@gmail.com.  Please share this information  with writers who might be interested.

Doe Branch Ink is a writers’ retreat located on 50 acres in the heart of the Blue Ridge mountains just 30 miles north of Asheville in historic Madison County, North Carolina.  We offer writers experiences of two kinds: in the late spring and early fall, we organize facilitated writing experiences for 10 or so guests with successful writers-in-residence who are also proven teachers.  At other times of the year, our guest house is available to rent for individual writers or writers groups, both short and long-term.  Fees vary by accommodation (single v. double, private v. shared bath, etc.) and cover program, housing, meals and refreshments.  We have Fall/Spring Workshops with Glenn Taylor (10/3-10/9), Peggy Payne (10/10-10/16), Darnell Arnoult (10/17-10/23), Craig Nova (5/15-5/21), Pam Duncan (5/22-5/28), David Payne (5/29-6/4), David Gessner (6/5-6/11) and Michael Malone (6/12-6/18).

Thanks for all your interest and support!

Jim Roberts and Deborah Jakubs

Doors Open 7:00 — Concert Begins at 7:30

Contribution $30

http://www.timobrien.net/

We are thrilled to welcome Tim O’Brien to Learned Place this February.  Tim is among the most prolific, creative and storied performers of his (our) generation.  He is a Grammy Award winner (2005, Fiddler’s Green) and has twice won the male vocalist of the year award from the International Bluegrass Music Association (1993 and 2006).  His legendary band, Hot Rize, won the IBMA’s first entertainer of the year award in 1990.  In recent years, Tim has been an exceptional singer-songwriter whose mastery of acoustic instruments is dazzling and whose vocal interpretations range from lyrical to whimsical.  Especially notable have been his explorations of the Irish-American experience in his collection The Crossing, his introspective When No One’s Around, the exuberant Traveler, and the more recent and highly acclaimed Fiddler’s Green, Cornbread Nation and Chameleon.  The recordings of Hot Rize, still available, are classics.  And these are just the highlights!  Needless to say, this is an evening you won’t want to miss.  Our talented and always popular friends Pattie and Jack LeSueur and Cedar Creek will open the evening.

Doors Open 7:00 — Concert Begins at 7:30

Contribution $20

http://www.shannonwhitworth.com/

Shannon Whitworth was a founding member of the acclaimed Asheville-based band, the Biscuit Burners.  Since early 2007, she has been touring and recording with her own band.  A talented songwriter, Shannon plays claw hammer banjo and guitar and is an outstanding vocalist, with a rich, distinctive voice.  Her first solo CD, “No Expectations,” was released in 2007 to very strong reviews.  According to the CD Baby independent music review site “‘No Expectations’ is one of the finest and freshest americanna/country roots records you will here today. Great singing, great writing, and great picking makes Shannon Whitworth’s first solo project unforgettable.”  We are delighted that Shannon will join us to kick off our 2008/09 house concert season.  Members of Durham’s own Duke Street Dogs, regulars at Parker and Otis in the Brightleaf district, will open the show.  Michael Borstelmann and Keith Guile were part of a memorable Learned Place concert two years ago, and we are pleased to welcom them back.

FULLY BOOKED — NO LONGER ACCEPTING RESERVATIONS

Doors Open 7:00 — Concert Begins at 7:30

Contribution $30

http://www.krugerbrothers.com/

Yes, it’s true!  Our incredibly talented and equally generous friends Jens, Uwe and Joel will be joining us again this year for another evening that is sure to delight and amaze.    Pattie and Jack LeSueur and Cedar Creek (Rick La Reno and Mike Foster) will open.   Last year this show was fully booked within 24 hours of announcing it.  Need we say more?

Doors Open 7:00 — Concert Begins at 7:30

Contribution $30

 http://www.steepcanyon.com/

We are most fortunate to present a return visit of the Steep Canyon Rangers, a band originally formed on the campus of UNC.  Since then, the band has released five successful albums, most recently Lovin’ Pretty Women.  In 2006 they were designated the emerging artists of the year by the International Bluegrass Music Association.  We shared an exceptional evening with the Steep Canyon Rangers in December 2007– exceptional both in that lead singer Woody Platt had laryngitis and didn’t sing a note and in that the talents of the rest of the band made for a spontaneous, improvisational evening that left everyone wowed.   (Nicky Sanders’ singing and fiddling of Bob Dylan’s “Masters of War” will long be remembered!)  It’s hard to imagine a stronger performance than last year’s, but with Woody at full strength, it can only get better.  This September, we heard the band at full strength at the Mountain Songfest in Brevard, and they were superb — winning rousing, spontaneous standing ovations.

Doors Open 7:30 — Concert Begins at 8:00

Contribution $30

http://www.adrienneyoung.com/

We first heard Adrienne Young at Merlefest a few years back.  A talented instrumentalist, Adrienne is best known for her original songwriting and vocal range and style.  She and her collaborators have issued three CD’s, most recently Room to Grow.   Born on Florida farmland and now based in Virginia, Adrienne is especially engaged with sustainable, local agriculture.  According to one recent review, “her albums — exemplified by the amazing title songs from the albums Plow to the End of the Row and The Art of Virtue — are moving metaphors for human struggle and the search for peace in a chaotic world.  The fact that Young, who also plays guitar and banjo, performs an invigorating blend of old-time music, bluegrass, Celtic, folk, country, rock, pop and jazz makes it all the more engaging. Her thoughtful choices of cover songs, such as the Grateful Dead’s ‘Brokedown Palace’ and Joni Mitchell’s ‘Free Man in Paris,’ also show her range.”  It took countless emails and phone calls to get this date arranged.  Please don’t miss it; you will admire Adrienne’s energy, commitment and the great music she makes with her band!