Music in the Gardens: Joan Shelley with Nathan Salsburg
Wednesday, June 19, 2019 | 7:00 pm
Sarah P. Duke Gardens
First cultivating a national profile with 2014’s exemplary Electric Ursa, Joan Shelley continues to lure listeners into her musical world. Imbued with secrets and tells, the Kentucky singer’s songcraft culls from regional and national folk traditions to produce deceptively straightforward results that enchant and, at times, haunt. Produced by Wilco’s Jeff Tweedy, Shelley’s eponymous 2017 full-length earned praise from Pitchfork for her “striking vocals and nimble melodies.” The warm record reteams her with creative familiars James Elkington and Nathan Salsburg, and the latter guitarist joins her for this Sarah P. Duke Gardens performance. Her most recent recording, a curated set of covers entitled Rivers & Vessels, features Bonnie “Prince” Billy and Julia Purcell of Louisville’s Maiden Radio, with proceeds going to Kentucky Waterways Alliance.
Duke Performances’ 2019 Music in the Gardens is made possible, in part, with support from Duke Continuing Studies, Duke Summer Session & The Sarah P. Duke Gardens.Joan Shelley 'NPR Music Tiny Desk Concert'
“If Nick Drake and Sandy Denny had had a kid, she may have grown up to be Joan Shelley.”