Friday, October 16, 2009

Spencer Bohren returns to Casper 10/24

Casper native Spencer Bohren will perform on Saturday, Oct. 24, 7:30 p.m., at Kelly Walsh High School Auditorium in Casper.

Here's more info from the ARTCORE web site:

Born in wind-swept Casper, in 1950, Spencer's gospel-singing parents provided the foundation for a musical style and career that remain healthy after more than four decades. In the 1950s, with Hank Williams and Elvis Presley on the airwaves, Spencer’s family spent hours gathered around a piano. Spencer says, "My mother didn't have boys and girls. To her we were sopranos, altos and tenors.” Four decades as a "road scholar," concert performer and general fan of humanity have given Spencer Bohren much to share. No one was more surprised than Spencer when Jorma Kaukonen of the Jefferson Airplane and Hot Tune called to invite Spencer to teach at the Fur Peace Ranch, his guitar camp in Pomeroy, Ohio. He offers a veritable treasure trove of guitar technique, lapsteel tricks, and musical knowledge to enthusiastic students around the world.

Contemporary with his recent welcome into the academic world, Spencer has developed a performance/lecture, Down the Dirt Road Blues, which follows a single song's journey from 16th Century Africa through America's culture and history up through the Rolling Stones and Bob Dylan, utilizing appropriate vintage instruments.

Still actively touring in Europe, Spencer has recorded and released four CD projects with Germany's Valve Records. The second one, Southern Cross, displays a small gallery of Spencer's artwork. In recent years, he has performed in France, Belgium, Holland, Sweden, Switzerland, Spain and Italy, as well as Germany, and is gathering an enthusiastic following in England and Ireland as well.

While the horrific events resulting from Hurricane Katrina's devastating visit to New Orleans in 2005 have dramatically affected Spencer and his family, he, like so many others, has rebuilt his home and life. Spencer's inspired post-Katrina song, Long Black Line, became a post-traumatic touchstone for all of New Orleans, a guiding step in the recovery process.

Get tickets here