Blues artists to grace terrace

The Johnston Center for Undergraduate Excellence will host blues musicians John Dee Holeman and Billy Stevens today as part of the "Thursdays on the Terrace" outdoor concert series.

The performance will feature a variety of blues flavors, but will prominently showcase Holeman's relaxed and folksy Piedmont style.

Holeman and Stevens will perform at this semester's second concert in the series.

Thursdays on the Terrace offers students the opportunity to experience a variety of free concerts that are designed to augment specific courses offered at the University.

In addition, the series endeavours to offer an outdoor performance space for undergraduate students.

Many of the shows this semester will directly relate to the course History 142: "Southern Music," taught by William Ferris, the associate director of the Center for the Study of the American South.

Artists selected for performance will demonstrate "musical traditions that are deeply rooted in the American South," Ferris said. Most are artists from the local area.

"(The concerts aspire to) underscore the rich musical talent that exists within our own community," said Ferris.

Holeman, a 75-year-old native of Timberland, has been on Durham's blues scene since the early 1950s. He was awarded a National Endowment for the Arts Heritage Fellowship in 1988, and a North Carolina Folk Heritage Award in 1994.

The Music Maker Relief Foundation sponsors older blues musicians like Holeman in an effort to preserve music that, for financial reasons, might not survive otherwise.

Blues music often is noted as a highly valued art form, influencing much of the music of the 20th century.

"The Blues are the aquifer of all American music," said Timothy Duffy, president of Music Maker's Board of Directors, adding that every popular musical style followed in the path of its creation.

Holeman is noted for extending the tradition of Piedmont blues legends such as Durham's Blind Boy Fuller, a vastly popular recording artist in the '30s and '40s.

With a raspy voice and firm grasp of acoustic and electric guitar-driven blues, Holeman is "a wonderful carrier of the Southeast tradition of blues, which is often largely overlooked," in comparison to the more widely noted Mississippi or Chicago styles, said Duffy.

Billy Stevens will accompany Holeman, playing the harmonica on acoustic songs and an array of backup instruments on electric selections.

A self-billed "one-man band," local music veteran Stevens will play keyboards, harmonica and drum machines at the same time, backing up Holeman as he has done since the late '70s.

All concerts in the Thursdays on the Terrace series are held at Graham Memorial and are free and open to the public.

Contact the A&E Editor at artsdesk@unc.edu.