World-renowned blues musician and MacArthur genius grant recipient Corey Harris will appear at Court Square Theater Saturday, Dec. 4, kicking off the new Concerts in the Valley series.
Tickets ($25-advance, $30 at door) are available at valleyarts.org/performances.
Doors open at 6:30 p.m. for the 7 p.m. event.
The performance begins with readings from Harris’s new book, “Bluespeople Illustrated: Legends of the Blues: Drawings, discographies and biographies of the 20th century’s greatest blues men and women.” Written by a practicing African American blues musician, the book is a meticulously illustrated, in-depth biography of the greatest blues players of the 20th century.
Harris will discuss details of his book and answer audience questions, before performing a one-set. The evening also serves as a CD-release party for Harris’s “Insurrection Blues.” Several cuts from the new release will be featured. After intermission, Harris will be joined by his band to complete the musically-inspired evening, sponsored by Cross Keys Studio and Lee & Associates.
A guitarist, vocalist, songwriter and band leader, Harris began his career in New Orleans as a street singer. He has appeared across North America, Europe, Brazil, The Caribbean, East and West Africa, Asia, Australia and New Zealand. He has performed, recorded, and toured with an array of top artists, including BB King, Taj Mahal, Buddy Guy, R.L.Burnside, Ali Farka Toure, Dave Matthews Band, Tracy Chapman, Olu Dara, and Wilco.
In 2007, Harris received a MacArthur Fellowship (often known as a “genius award”) from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, which described him as an artist who “forges an adventurous path marked by deliberate eclecticism.”
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