East Tennessee State University’s Bluegrass, Old-Time and Roots Music Studies will present a highly anticipated concert at the ETSU Martin Center for the Arts on March 11 featuring Grand Ole Opry star Rhonda Vincent and The Rage.
This concert will kick off a yearlong commemoration of the program’s 40th anniversary. The ETSU Bluegrass Pride Band will open the concert at 7 p.m. Tickets are available for purchase at the ETSU Martin Center website: etsutickets.com/martincenter/Online/default.asp.
Vincent powers one of the hottest bands in any genre of music today, organizers said. Vincent’s early life of music evolved into a successful career in bluegrass music after Grand Ole Opry Star Jim Ed Brown discovered her, and later spending what she called her “musical college years” recording for Giant Records. It was her bluegrass album “Back Home Again” that transformed Vincent into what the Wall Street Journal called the “New Queen of Bluegrass” in 2000.
Awarded a 2017 Grammy for Best Bluegrass Album, IBMA Entertainer of the Year in 2001, IBMA Song of the Year in 2004 and an unprecedented seven consecutive IBMA Female Vocalist of the Year awards from 2000-2006, Vincent “seamlessly sets the stage for a breath-taking, one-of-a-kind, must-see performance,” organizers said.
“Rhonda is one of our ETSU family members,” said Program Director Dan Boner. “Both her daughters, Sally and Tensel, earned degrees at ETSU. Her son-in-law, Brent Burke, was our first-ever graduate with the B.A. degree in Bluegrass, Old-Time and Roots Music Studies. Her longtime fiddler, Hunter Berry, got his start in an ETSU bluegrass band over 20 years ago and now teaches for our program. I can’t think of anyone better to help us launch our 40th anniversary series of events.”
The program, founded in 1982 by Jack Tottle, will celebrate this milestone anniversary throughout 2022 by holding a series of festivities and events with well-known and prominent artists who have connections to the university. The program has awarded 116 degrees in Bluegrass, Old-Time and Roots Music Studies since the Bachelor of Arts was launched 12 years ago.
ETSU Bluegrass, Old-Time and Roots Music Studies is one of a variety of educational programs that are offered in the Department of Appalachian Studies, along with graduate degrees in Appalachian Studies and in Heritage Interpretation and Museum Studies; an Appalachian, Scottish and Irish Studies program with a study abroad experience; and several undergraduate minors. For more information, contact the department of Bluegrass, Old-Time, and Roots Music Studies at (423) 439-7072 or [email protected].
