League of Women Voters and bluegrass unite

Bluegrass music, a genre rooted in tradition, will meet its progressive match during a National Voter Registration Day concert later today.

The League of Women Voters of Orange, Durham and Chatham Counties will host a free concert tonight, and the group hopes the event will allow it to reach all genders.

“Our primary mission has always been increasing voter participation and educating voters,” said Brenda Rogers, the League president.

Despite North Carolina playing host to a tight U.S. Senate race with a female candidate on the ballot, Rogers said the league will not be supporting Kay Hagan.

“We do not support candidates or parties,” she said. “We take positions on issues, and we advocate for issues.”

The group formed in 1920 to teach women how to become educated voters, but its issues cover a wide spectrum, from charter schools to health care. Rogers said the target of today’s event is students.

“It has always been to provide citizens with information that would help them be educated voters, and we are open to men,” Rogers said.

The progressive nature of the league and the concert it is sponsoring contrasts interestingly with its bluegrass musical act, which many consider a traditional genre.

The concert will feature North Carolina’s Swift Creek Band, an Americana and bluegrass ensemble that also supports educating voters.

“Though the band members are all over the map politically, I’m pretty sure we all agree that Americans should register to vote and exercise the right to vote,” band manager Ann Searcy said.

Swift Creek has played free concerts in the past, with its most recent benefit shows taking place in honor of the American Diabetes Association and the SECU Family House at UNC Hospitals.

Searcy said when the band members first got started, they listened to Old Crow Medicine Show and bluegrass legends like Bill Monroe, as well as newer artists like the Punch Brothers. But she said their sound is still unique.

“We like to think we sound like ourselves, not anybody else,” Searcy said in an email.

“We play what we like, regardless of genre, so you’re going to hear a classic tune, our spin on a Decemberists song and Kevin’s original songs — band member, Kevin Brown — in the same set.”

Adam Graetz, marketing director of the Carrboro ArtsCenter, which is hosting the concert, said there will be tables in the gallery with voter information.

He agreed that the league’s cause is an important one.

“We are co-booking this with them to raise awareness of, you know, getting out there and voting.”

arts@dailytarheel.com