News Release

Bluegrass performance kicks off
folklore labor conference at UNC

CHAPEL HILL — Traditional music legend Alice Gerrard, a pioneer of the women’s bluegrass sound, will perform Friday (Sept. 23) at 7:30 p.m. at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill to kick off a conference in folklore.

Gerrard will be joined by West Virginia coal-mining singer Elaine Purkey and other musicians in a concert featuring workers’ music and labor songs in Historic PlayMakers Theater. Tickets are $15 for the public and $10 for university students and faculty.

The concert kicks off a Saturday (Sept. 24) folklore conference, open to the public, titled "Laborlore Conversations III." The conference begins at 9 a.m. in the Donovan Lounge on the second floor of Greenlaw Hall.

Folklorist Archie Green coined the term "laborlore" to characterize the expressive culture of working men and women as it relates to work experience, tradition and identity. "Laborlore Conversations III" marks the third gathering of scholars and laborers who share the goal of identifying, recognizing and analyzing the expressive cultures and traditions of work.

The concert’s headliner, Gerrard, grew up in California but took her love for old-time and bluegrass music to Baltimore, where she joined forces with coal-mining singer Hazel Dickens. The duo’s albums became some of the most influential recordings in bluegrass history, shaping a generation of performers and inspiring artists such as Emmylou Harris, Gillian Welch and The Judds.

After recording four albums, Dickens and Gerrard pursued independent musical paths. Gerrard moved to North Carolina, where — in addition to touring, performing, recording and producing music — she founded and edited The Old-Time Herald music journal.

Purkey grew up in the coal fields of southern West Virginia, surrounded by the songs and stories of labor struggle and union triumph. The daughter of a coal miner and celebrated mountain fiddler, she began singing as a child, performing at church and community events.

The concert and conference are sponsored by the Curriculum in Folklore in UNC’s College of Arts and Sciences, in partnership with the San Francisco-based Fund for Labor Culture and History. Tickets for the concert can be purchased in advance at Schoolkids Records on Franklin Street in Chapel Hill, (919) 929-7766.

Visit www.unc.edu/dept/folklore for more information.

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Photos of Friday’s performers: www.unc.edu/news/pics/Alice Gerrard.jpg

College of Arts and Sciences contact: Kim Weaver Spurr, (919) 962-4093, spurrk@email.unc.edu

News Services contacts: Print, LJ Toler, (919) 962-8589; broadcast, Karen Moon, (919) 962-8595