This year’s Shout & Shine: A Celebration of Diversity in Bluegrass will honor the connection and cross-pollination between blues, bluegrass, and their offshoots and will take place on Monday, Sept. 24, at 6 p.m. at the North Carolina Museum of History Daniels Auditorium, at the very beginning of IBMA’s World of Bluegrass events in Raleigh. Presented by BGS and PineCone, Shout & Shine is the first event of its kind at the weeklong bluegrass business conference and festival. Born in 2016 as a direct response to the NC General Assembly’s controversial “bathroom bill,” HB2, Shout & Shine’s third year has grown and refocused its mission on highlighting and reincorporating these voices not only at the showcase, but throughout the week-long convention and festival. This year’s theme will be built upon the connection between North Carolina’s Piedmont blues pickers and bluegrass, pairing musicians from the Music Maker Relief Foundation with the best and brightest of bluegrass to illustrate that vernacular music from Appalachia and its offshoot genres would not exist in their current forms without people of color, African Americans, African slaves, and the influence of the music they created. For the first time, the showcase is a ticketed, sit-down concert that will benefit both the IBMA Trust Fund and the Music Maker Relief Foundation.
Headlining the year is Che Apalache, a four-man string band from Argentina founded by fiddler and songwriter Joe Troop that was recently featured in an All Things Considered piece which aired earlier last month. Listen here. Also performing at Shout & Shine are Farmville, NC-based Glorifying Vines Sisters, a sister act who have sung together for 50 years, sharing their truth: that gospel music is the heart and soul of American music. Amythyst Kiah, a professed Southern Gothic songster based in Johnson City, TN, returns to the showcase for the first time since its inaugural year, 2016, bringing back her commanding stage presence and raw and powerful vocals. And, no stranger to the IBMA world, 2016 Male Vocalist of the Year, Danny Paisley will bring his reverent and exciting take on traditional country music and bluegrass. Recently announced acts include Music Maker Relief Foundation artists Thomas Rhyant and Big Ron Hunter, and clogger and buckdancer Williette Hinton (son of recently passed, legendary blues picker and dancer, Algia Mae Hinton), all of whom will join the bluegrassers on the bill for special cross-genre collaborations. Missy Raines, seven-time IBMA Bass Player of the Year and current Bass Player of the Year, Song of the Year, and Recorded Event of the Year nominee, returns to the showcase this year. The night’s emcees, Ben Hunter & Joe Seamons, bring their expertise in old timey, blues-infused roots to the roster, while Crying Uncle & Friends, California based brothers and veritable prodigies Teo and Miles Quale, will kick off the celebration with their signature jaw-dropping tunes in the museum lobby at 6pm.
Shout & Shine is made possible by these partners: the International Bluegrass Music Association, Music Maker Relief Foundation, and the North Carolina Museum of History and the NC Department of Natural and Cultural Resources. Shout & Shine 2018 presenting sponsors are the Raleigh Convention Center, the Greater Raleigh Convention and Visitors Bureau, Pre-War Guitars, Straight Up Strings, Jamie Dawson of Era Dream Living Realty, 95.7 FM That Station, and The Press House.
Tickets are $25 and available now (and going fast) at shoutandshine.brownpapertickets.com. All proceeds from the evening will benefit the IBMA Trust Fund and the Music Maker Relief Foundation. Special discounts are available for members of the NC Museum of History, IBMA, PineCone, and the Music Maker Relief Foundation through each organization.
