When it comes to music, the late great Duke Ellington may have said it best: “There are two kinds of music. Good music, and the other kind”. Today on Triad Arts Weekend, you don't have to worry about the latter because we've got blues, to ballads, Bach and beyond! It's all part of 17 Days Festival with music, art, theatre and more coming to Greensboro September 20th through October 6th. 17 Days Festival is happening courtesy of Arts Greensboro and this year they're bringing in more than 130 arts events including a concert by multi-platinum selling recording artist Joan Osborne. Joane Osborne is here today on TAW, as is singer/songwriter extraordinaire Aoife O'Donovan. Fresh of the road with cellist Yo-Yo Ma, Aoife's new CD Fossils was picked as one of Rolling Stone magazine's "must-hear albums of the summer". And speaking of cellists, how about world renowned, multiple Grammy winner Matt Haimovitz? He's got an amazing cello tribute to Jimmy Hendrix.
Joan Osborne
Joan Osborne is considered one of the great voices of her generation. Her debut album,
Relish, wove together strands of American roots music, poetic lyrics and impassioned vocals, and produced the international hit "(What if God Was) One of Us.” Since then she has released several albums and toured extensively with her own band. As a member of The Grateful Dead, Joan appeared in the Grammy Award-winning documentary "Standing in the Shadows of Motown," sharing the the stage with Bob Dylan, Stevie Wonder, Emmylou Harris and Patti Smith just to name a few. Joan's most recent album,
Bring it on Home, was nominated for Best Blues Album at the 2013 Grammy Awards and it is good.
She'll be kicking off 17 Days Festival in style beginning at 8:00pm on Friday, September 20th
. Joan spoke with David Ford by phone from her home in New York. Joan's latest project, a new album titled LOVE & HATE is scheduled for release early next year.
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Aoife O'Donovan
If you didn't already know about her, and if you did, chances are you're already a big fan of the 30 year old Boston native singer/songwriter and her amazing music.
Aofie O'Donovan can tear up a Joni Mitchell
classic like Amelia, write and record gut wrenchingly beautiful tunes of her own, and she's also the lead singer for the progressive bluegrass/string band, Crooked Still. Aoife's
a member of the female folk-noir trio, Sometymes
Why, and she's already performed with a who's who list of legendary musicians including Jerry Douglas, Chris Thile
, Dave Douglas and Yo-Yo
Ma. This summer, Aoife
toured with Garrison Keillor
and his "A Prairie Home Companion Radio Romance Tour”, and this week she comes to Greensboro as part of 17 Days. Aoife and her band will perform at the intimate Triad Stage downtown on Monday night, September 23rd at 8:00pm. She spoke with David Ford by phone from her home in Boston.
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Matt Haimovitz
Cellist and multiple Grammy winner
Matt Haimovitz has inspired classical music lovers and countless new listeners by bringing fresh music to concert halls and clubs, outdoor festivals, intimate coffee houses—just about anywhere he can reach listeners with passionate performances of world class music. Coming up
Friday night, September 27th at 8:00PM, Matt brings that passion to the University of NC at Greensboro Recital Hall as part of the 17 Days Festival. In Beyond Bach, Matt will explore everything from classic Jimi Hendrix tunes to an unaccompanied Bach Cello Suite. He spoke with David Ford by cell phone in between performances in Montreal.
Matt's latest multimedia project is and educational CD and book for children titled Angel Heart narrated by Jeremy Irons. It'll be out as an app in a few months and live productions of the show in New York, San Francisco and elsewhere around the country will include video elements as well.
