From old time Kentucky tunes to a band’s unique take on art, the next two concerts in the “Appalachia in the Bluegrass” series are sure to cater to a wide audience. The first concert, featuring the Red State Ramblers, will be presented noon Friday, Nov. 30, in the Niles Gallery, located in the University of Kentucky Lucille C. Little Fine Arts Library and Learning Center. The final concert will feature Anna Roberts-Gevalt and Elizabeth LaPrelle introducing local audiences to the art form known as “crankies” at noon Friday, Dec. 7, at Niles Gallery. Both programs are free and open to the public.

Rambling Singers Brings Kentucky Tradition to Stage

The Red State Ramblers

The Red State Ramblers features native and adopted Kentuckians playing Kentucky tunes and songs. The Ramblers, all alumni of UK, are comprised of Will Bacon, on banjo and kazoo; Kevin Kehrberg, on bass and guitar; Jeff Keith, on mandolin and guitar; and Nikos Pappas, on fiddle. Bacon and Keith grew up in the Bluegrass state, while Pappas and Kehrberg were inevitably drawn to the Commonwealth several years ago.

In 2008, the Red State Ramblers were a finalist in the string band competition at Clifftop Old Time String Band Festival. Recently the ban released their second recording, “Commonwealth,” based on traditional music of the state of Kentucky.

Keith and Kehrberg currently serve as professors at Warren Wilson College. Pappas has been recently added as assistant professor of music at the University of Alabama. Bacon is the owner of a contracting firm, BaConstruction.

This performance is a special reunion of the Ramblers, who have traveled a “fur piece” to reunite at Niles Gallery in order to help close out the series as they have every year since “Appalachia in the Bluegrass” has been presented at the Niles Gallery. This past year they have performed in Kyrgyzstan and Ecuador on U.S. State Department-sponsored musical tours.

Hear a performance by the Red State Ramblers on their recent tour of Ecuador with Ron Pen, director of the UK John Jacob Niles Center for American Music:

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hl8_J3gOAKM

By Whitney Hale, Lea Mann Nov 28, 2012 LEXINGTON, Ky. (Nov. 29, 2012)

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