Tag: African American Experience

Blue Ridge artist Tray Wellington builds bridges with bluegrass

The North Carolina-based artist Tray Wellington is a rising star of contemporary bluegrass. In 2019, he won the International Bluegrass Music Association’s Momentum Instrumentalist of the Year award, and in both 2022 and 2023 he was a finalist for the association’s New Artist of the Year award. Photo by Rob Laughter, courtesy of the artist.

Late last month, I was lucky enough to catch a special musical performance in Great Smoky Mountains National Park. It was a fine morning in high summer, and on the back porch of the Oconaluftee Visitor Center near Cherokee, North Carolina, a four-piece string band launched into the first swirling notes of an original composition. […]

Eric Mingus uncovers origins of a famous family’s saga

Eric Mingus and GSMNP Superintendent Cassius Cash unveil a new sign outside Mingus Mill in Great Smoky Mountains National Park at a ceremony held Tuesday, May 23, 2023. The new sign describes how the Mingus family experience in America touches on “some of the country’s sharpest historical notes.” Provided by Great Smoky Mountains Association.

Eric Mingus is intimately familiar with his father’s story. For better or worse, it’s a story that has followed him throughout his life and shaped his own path as a performing artist. The story goes something like this: Born in 1922, Charles Mingus Jr. came of age in Los Angeles, California, where he received training […]

“Sepia Tones” podcast miniseries honored with national award

Great Smoky Mountains Association received national recognition at the 2023 Public Lands Alliance Partnership Awards for its podcast miniseries Sepia Tones: Exploring Black Appalachian Music, which won the award for Outstanding Public Engagement. PLA publicly announced and honored the winners of its annual Partnership Awards at a virtual ceremony on Thursday, April 27. Funded by […]

African American project leader reflects on 2022, plans for 2023

Who were they? How did they get here? What were their lives like? These are questions that constantly resonate with me when I gaze upon clouds and mountains and dare to consider the 9,000 years of human history that lie untold within this region that we call home. Often left out of the popular modern […]

Sepia Tones welcomes Amythyst Kiah and Jack Tottle

In a new episode of Sepia Tones: Exploring Black Appalachian Music, hosts Dr. William Turner and Dr. Ted Olson talk to Amythyst Kiah—an acclaimed, Grammy-nominated musician whose work blending the genres of folk, rock, and roots music has established her as a distinctive new voice in Appalachia.

‘Sepia Tones’ welcomes guest Dom Flemons, American songster

In the latest episode of the award-winning podcast miniseries Sepia Tones: Exploring Black Appalachian Music, released on Friday, July 29, hosts Dr. William Turner and Dr. Ted Olson are joined by lauded musician Dom Flemons for a compelling conversation on the many Appalachian influences…

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GET THE LATEST FROM THE SMOKIES

By submitting this form, you are consenting to receive eNews from Great Smoky Mountains Association, P.O. Box 130, Gatlinburg, TN, 37738, US, http://www.smokiesinformation.org. You can revoke your consent to receive emails at any time by using the SafeUnsubscribe® link, found at the bottom of every email. Emails are serviced by Constant Contact.

GREAT SMOKY MOUNTAINS ASSOCIATION

is a proud partner of Great Smoky Mountains National Park and the National Park Service

115 Park Headquarters Rd. Gatlinburg, TN 37738
865.436.7318    mailorder@gsmassoc.org

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