Lucy West of Fisher will give a talk on early music of the South Branch Valley at 7 p.m. Nov. 5 in the Landes Arts Center at 18 Mountain View St. in Petersburg. This event is free, open to the public and is sponsored by the Grant County Arts Council Inc. and community sponsor Davis House Book Store.
This event will explore the South Branch Valley's early music traditions, including a look at Native American music traditions, and early settler's music ways brought from the British Isles and Western Europe. The later development of spirituals, gospel and mountain music will be explored as well.
West, a native of Hardy County, has a bachelor of arts from Mary Baldwin College in history, a master of arts from Emory University in American history and a master of philosophy in American history from George Washington University. Much of her professional life was involved in American history scholarship, and she most recently taught American and West Virginia history at Potomac State College and Shepherd College, South Branch. She is the author of many scholarly papers.
Following this event and reflecting many of the themes of West's talk will be "New Harmonies: A Celebration of American Roots Music," a traveling exhibit from the Smithsonian Institution in collaboration with Museum on Main Street, and sponsored in West Virginia by the Humanities Council. "New Harmonies" will be on display from Dec. 4 through Jan. 24.
Running concurrently with "New Harmonies" will be a multimedia display featuring traditional musicians from Grant, Pendleton and Mineral counties recorded in 1978 by folklorist Bill Wellington.
Both of these exhibits are also free, open to the public and will be at the Landes Arts Center in Petersburg.
