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Duke Arts Presents

Artists-in-Residence: Hiss Golden Messenger

Wednesday, November 11, 2015 | 12:00 pm


FROM THE ARCHIVES: HISS GOLDEN MESSENGER & WILLIAM GEDNEY

M.C. Taylor, leader of the band Hiss Golden Messenger, and Jim Findlay, stage director and designer, are joined by photographer and William Gedney scholar Margaret Sartor in a conversation moderated by Tom Rankin, director of Duke’s MFA in Experimental and Documentary Arts, about Heart Like a Levee, Taylor and Findlay’s project which draws from Gedney’s 1972 collection of Eastern Kentucky photographs, housed at Duke. The conversation will explore Gedney’s influence and Taylor and Findlay’s collaboration. Heart Like a Levee premieres at Reynolds Industries Theater on Friday, November 13 and Saturday, November 14.

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Hiss Golden Messenger is the indie folk project of Durham-based musical omnivore M.C. Taylor — “at once firmly steeped in tradition and immediately accessible” (NPR). At Reynolds Industries Theater, Duke Performances presents Heart Like a Levee, the world premiere of a specially commissioned song cycle by Taylor that draws upon William Gedney‘s 1972 photographs from Eastern Kentucky. Working alongside OBIE-winning stage director and designer Jim Findlay, Taylor offers a set of songs that address family, work, home, and love, as inspired by the photos’ subjects.

Wednesday, November 11, 12 – 1 PM
Forum for Scholars & Publics, 011 Old Chemistry Building, Duke West Campus (Directions)
Free & open to the public; a light lunch will be served for all attendees starting at 11:45 AM.

A part of Talking Music: Conversations with Scholars, Writers, Archivists, and Artists, co-sponsored by Duke Performances and Forum for Scholars & Publics. Made possible, in part, with an award from the National Endowment for the Arts, and support from the Archive of Documentary Arts at David M. Rubenstein Rare Book and Manuscript Library at Duke University.