Tui and Dedicated Men of Zion will perform at 7 p.m., Saturday, July 31, at the Blue Ridge Music Center. The concert will be held in the outdoor amphitheater at the base of Fisher Peak. The Music Center is at milepost 213 on the Blue Ridge Parkway.
The old-time duo Tui (pronounced too-wee) is comprised of Jake Blount and Libby Weitnauer. They draw inspiration equally from rare archival recordings, the music of their peers, and extensive experiences with other genres of music. Tui’s diverse influences enable them to create music that is innovative and technically demanding, yet accessible and affecting as only old songs can be. They released their debut album, Pretty Little Mister, in 2019.
Blount is a fiddler, banjo player, and scholar. He has performed and recorded with acclaimed fiddler Tatiana Hargreaves and award-winning old-time string band The Moose Whisperers. Fiddler and singer Libby Weitnauer earned degrees in classical violin performance from DePaul University and New York University, but she finds her voice in the traditional music of Appalachia.
The Dedicated Men of Zion came up out of the singing land of eastern North Carolina, around the city of Greenville and its small neighboring town of Farmville. Harmony is serious business where the Dedicated Men of Zion come from. For their eldest member Anthony “Amp” Daniels, it was so serious that every day his mother would call her children inside, turn off the television, and make them sing in harmony, talk in harmony, do everything in harmony. Each trained in the church and at home, the group’s four vocalists – Anthony Daniels, Antoine Daniels, Dexter Weaver, and Marcus Sugg – share the bond of that upbringing, as well as the bond of kinship (they’re all family now through blood or marriage).
Tui will kick off the show, followed by Dedicated Men of Zion.
Tickets for this concert are $20 for adults, children 12 and younger are admitted free. Tickets are available online in advance through BlueRidgeMusicCenter.org, and will also be sold at the admission gate on the evening of the show. Parking opens at 5:15 p.m. on the day of the show, and admission to the amphitheater begins at 5:45 p.m.
