The String Band Summit took place in the Powell Recital Hall on April 8-10, 2022. The event was hosted by Bluegrass, Old-Time, and Roots Music Studies at ETSU. This event created a space for experiencing the string genre of music, no matter which genre of music is played by each instrument. This event was a festival, conference and workshop all in one.
On Friday, April 8, the event hosted a concert by Joe Troop and Larry Bellorín, also known as the Tray Wellington Band, and Bill and the Belles, hosted by artist-in-residence Brittany Haas. The Bluegrass, Old-Time, and Roots program received a grant from the ETSU Mary B. Martin School of the Arts in order to host this event. They were also supported by the ETSU Department of Appalachian Studies.
On Saturday, April 9, the group joined with ETSU’s Language and Culture Resource Center and the Center for Popular Music to present string artists Belen Escobedo and Lua Project at the Corazón Latino Festival in Downtown Johnson City. The musical “Bright Star” was offered as well on Saturday night.
The event was also able to be accessed outside of the region through Zoom sessions. Remote access and other aspects of the Summit were supported by the ETSU Martin School of the Arts.
“String band music has long been a focus at ETSU. Research and organizing work in the 1970s and 1980s by professors like Tom Burton, Ambrose Manning and Richard Blaustein cleared the way for the teaching that Jack Tottle began in 1982. The newly renamed curriculum in Bluegrass, Old-Time, and Roots Music Studies celebrates four decades of research, teaching and community building in and through string band music,” wrote ETSU in a press release.
To learn more about different events coming up within the Bluegrass, Old-Time, and Roots Music Studies, visit https://www.etsu.edu/cas/das/bluegrass/.
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