Dearest Home, a favorite of Music, Gettysburg! audiences, will perform an outdoor concert of traditional Appalachian music as well as authentic Civil War Era Music, including abolitionist songs that advocated for justice and equal treatment of all persons, according to a Music, Gettysburg! release.
The hour-long concert, which is free and open to the public, will take place Sunday, July 18 at 6 pm on the east porch of the Seminary Ridge Museum, 111 Seminary Ridge, Gettysburg. Folks should bring blankets or lawn chairs, and a picnic dinner, the release reads.
In the event of inclement weather, the concert will move next door to the ULS chapel. Check the website at www.musicgettysburg.org for last minute updates.
Expressive vocals with rich harmonies interweave with sprightly dance tunes, as Dearest Home recreates traditional American music, Appalachian music, especially from the Samuel Bayard Folk Song Collection, and historically authentic US Civil War era music, according to the release.
They sing other great American folk songs, including favorites from Jean Ritchie and the Carter Family. Don’t be surprised when they share a related tune from Scotland, Ireland, or England, according to the release.
Like the band itself, Dearest Home’s music unites the generations, the release indicates.
“It’s presented in skillful combinations of concertina, dulcimer, fiddle, whistles, guitar, bass, keyboards, and percussion, and with evocative, unaccompanied energy. Passion, skill, and the resonant, next-of-kin matching of voices, in lovingly crafted arrangements, bring traditional Appalachian music of Pennsylvania and northwestern West Virginia to life with authenticity and originality in perfect balance,” according to the release.
Dearest Home’s music is featured in an installation of the internationally-acclaimed Seminary Ridge Museum (Civil War, “Faith and Freedom”), according to the release.
Since their 2011 debut, Dearest Home has played for venues including the grand opening of the Seminary Ridge Museum, Appalachian Studies Association Conference, Greenwood Furnace Folk Gathering, Common Ground on Seminary Ridge, Heart of the Arts Festival, Penn State University, Music Gettysburg!, Waterford Fair, St. Michael’s Soiree, Civil War Symposium, the Midtown Scholar, Hauser Estate Winery, Songs and Stories of a Civil War Hospital, Gettysburg College Library, and many other concert series and history-related events in surrounding states, the release reads.
Dearest Home released Songs from Laurel Hill, six tracks from the Samuel Bayard Folksong Collection, in March 2015. Back to Laurel Hill, their first full volume of treasures from this collection, will be released in October 2015. The band’s CD, Dearest Home, featuring authentic Civil War era music and three tracks of Pennsylvania traditional folk songs, was released on June 30, 2013, according to the release.
Folk Alliance Triple Crown W11 inner Si Kahn describes the album: If ‘home is where the heart is,’ then the singers and musicians who together make up Dearest Home have clearly poured their hearts into their new self-titled album. Deeply steeped in the traditional music of Pennsylvania, my own home state, they have chosen wisely from their wide repertoire of Civil War songs, Appalachian ballads and fiddle tunes. Singing with passion, skill and the resonant matching of voices that seems born in the blood of next-of-kin, Dearest Home presents us with close harmony in many senses of the phrase, on stage and on CD. In their voices, you can hear the peaks and valleys of the landscape, feel the past and future marching together, and sense the shadows of the mountains.
Music, Gettysburg! is a premier concert series featuring international, national, regional and local musical artists for the greater south central Pennsylvania region, according to the release. The United Lutheran Seminary Chapel is at 147 Seminary Ridge in Gettysburg. For more information about this and other concerts in the Music, Gettysburg! schedule, call 717-339-1334 or visit the Music, Gettysburg! web site, www.musicgettysburg.org or email [email protected].
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