“Out on the Highway: An Evening of Americana,” is set for 7:30 p.m. on Thursday, March 27, at Tennessee Tech University’s Backdoor Playhouse, located in the rear of the Jere Whitson Building.

The event will feature two musical artists from the genre commonly known as Americana or “alternative country” music — the Everybodyfields from Johnson City and Danger and the Steel Cut Oats from Nashville.

Andrew William Smith, a TTU English instructor and host of “Teacher on the Radio” on WTTU 88.5 FM, will give a presentation between performances about the importance and significance of the Americana, or alt-country, musical genre.

“The contemporary genre of alternative country is deeply rooted in our cultural history and works against the grain of commercial mainstream musical output. The Everybodyfields are excellent purveyors of this emerging idiom,” he said.

A performance by special guest artist Danger and the Steel Cut Oats — described as “a Civil War-era-inspired bluegrass band” — will kick off the event, which will culminate with a question-and-answer session with Jill Andrews and Sam Quinn, songwriters of the headlining act, the Everybodyfields.

The band’s sound has been described by Paste Magazine’s Top 50 of 2007, “Like a good cry — and like the best country music — Jill Andrews’ and Sam Quinn’s songs are all shuddering sighs, aching confessions and upturned hearts spilling out over layers of pedal steel, fiddle and acoustic guitar, delivered by two of the most disparately beautiful voices to ever meld.”

And Creative Loafing called the Everybodyfields’ sound, “gorgeous, moving and rootsy by nature, not design.”

The show — a Center Stage event co-hosted by the Tech Activities Board and campus radio station WTTU 88.5 FM — is free and open to the public.

--Tracey Hackett
This information posted 14 March 2008