“Geez Louise – Dangerous Dames & Their Killer Songs” Coming to Athens State
The 2020 Tennessee Valley Old Time Fiddlers Concert Series will kick off at Athens State University with a performance by “Geez Louise – Dangerous Dames & Their Killer Songs” featuring iconic songwriter Louisa Branscomb with Jeanette Williams, Pam Gadd, and Wanda Vick. The concert will be held on Thursday, January 23 at 7:00 pm in McCandless Hall.
Louisa Branscomb is one of the most lauded songwriters in acoustic music, with three International Bluegrass Association Awards, several additional nominations, two Grammy cuts, 2014 Song of the Year, IBMA Distinguished Achievement Award 2017 for her contributions in songwriting and community organizing that have changed the face of bluegrass music, as well as over 200 recorded original songs by artists including Claire Lynch, Krauss, John Denver, Dale Ann Bradley, and others. Her classic “Steel Rails” is one of the longest-running chart hits in bluegrass (also a Billboard country hit), while “Dear Sister” topped charts in bluegrass, Americana, and folk music and “Will I Be Good Enough,” sung by Karen Lynne, soared on country charts in Australia.
Jeanette Williams burst onto the national scene in 1999 with her Doobie Shea Records release “Cherry Blossoms in the Springtime,” which spent 9 months on the Bluegrass Unlimited National Album Chart. With more than ten SPBGMA nominations and three wins for Female Vocalist of the Year (2009, 2012, and 2013), two IBMA awards (2006 and 2009 Recorded Event of the Year with the Daughters of Bluegrass), two songwriting awards (2007 Chris Austin Songwriting Contest at MerleFest and 2008 IAMA Songwriting Contest), and over 20 years of performance experience in bluegrass and bluegrass gospel, Jeanette is expanding her repertoire to include her early influences of classic country, blues, roots, and rock n’ roll.
Pam Gadd became a professional performer in 1979. Her career spans appearances on eight albums and half a dozen videos, as well as television appearances on Hee Haw, Nashville Now, The Late Show with David Letterman, and The Tonight Show with Jay Leno. She has contributed her considerable skills on the banjo to recordings by such artists as Terri Clark and Emmylou Harris, and she received a nomination from the International Bluegrass Music Association in 1999 for that year’s Emerging Artist Award.
A multi-instrumentalist, Wanda Vick, was once called the “Jill of all strings” by People magazine. She has been living the musician’s dream for the past 30 years in Nashville. A sought after studio musician, she has recorded for an impressive list of artists in country, gospel, and pop. Artists she has recorded for include Taylor Swift, Jason Aldean with Alabama, Billy Ray Cyrus, George Jones, Dolly Parton, and many more. She has also played on thousands of demos for top Nashville songwriters. She has recorded for the soundtracks for movies including “The Apostle,” “The Fox and the Hound 2,” and “The Last Ride.”
Tickets for the event are $15.00. Season passes to the 2020 Fiddlers Concert Series are also available. Tickets and details can be found by visiting www.TVOTFC.org or calling the office of University Advancement at 256-233-8185.
