WOOSTER, Jan. 9 – The Voices from the Past concert series is back for its 31st season, with three performances scheduled at the Wayne County Historical Society in Wooster. Tickets for each concert are $15 and can be purchased at Murr Printing & Graphics, 201 E. Buckeye St., or by calling the historical society at 330-264-8856.
The series kicks off on Sunday, March 10, at 2 p.m. with Newberry & Verch. Known around the world for his clawhammer banjo playing, Joe Newberry is also a powerful guitarist, singer, and songwriter. The Gibson Brothers’ version of his song “Singing as We Rise,” featuring guest vocalist Ricky Skaggs, won the 2012 IBMA Gospel Recorded Performance Award. April Verch was the first woman to win both the Canadian Grand Masters and Canadian Open Fiddling Championships. She has released 14 solo recordings. She and Newberry have toured extensively, and their CD “Going Home” was released to wide acclaim in 2018.
Alla Boara will perform on Sunday, April 7, at 2 p.m. Featuring bassist Ian Kinnaman, drummer Anthony Taddeo, vocalist Amanda Powell, and guitarist Dan Bruce, Alla Boara seeks to bring recognition and new life to Italy’s diverse history of regional folk music. Their modern arrangements of near-extinct folk songs are variously surprising, playful, mournful, tender, and bewitching.
The series concludes on Sunday, April 28, at 2 p.m., with a performance by Bob Milne, considered by many to be the best ragtime/boogie-woogie pianist in the world. In 2004, Milne became the first ragtime pianist to be interviewed at the Library of Congress since the legendary Jelly Roll Morton in 1938. The interviews and a concluding concert in the Coolidge Auditorium were released as a four-DVD set. An active musical ambassador for the U.S. State Department, he has performed all over the world.
All Voices from the Past concerts take place in the Schoolhouse on the grounds of the Wayne County Historical Society, 546 E. Bowman St. in Wooster. For more information, call 330-264-8856.
