Event to be Held in Conjunction with a Screening of Bluebird: The Movie on April 18—the Museum’s First Live Public Program Since the Covid-19 Pandemic Hit
Award-winning singer/songwriters Ashley Cleveland, Karen Staley, Kathy Mattea, and Tricia Walker, will come together for a special evening of songs and stories at GRAMMY Museum® Mississippi in Cleveland, Mississippi. These original Women in the Round will be performing their show “Bluebird Cafe Style” for Big Night with Women in the Round, sponsored by Visit Mississippi, Southgroup Insurance, and the Mississippi Arts Commission, on Monday, April 19, at 7 pm.
The fundraising event will be held in conjunction with a screening of Bluebird: The Movie on Sunday, April 18—the Museum’s first live public program to be held since the COVID-19 pandemic hit. The April 18 event will feature an in person post-screening conversation with Cleveland, Staley, Mattea and Walker.
“We are thrilled to be able to safely welcome back visitors for public programs here at GRAMMY Museum Mississippi, and we couldn’t be more excited about our first two programs celebrating women in music,” said Emily Havens, Executive Director of GRAMMY Museum Mississippi. “Both programs will take place while our Stronger Together: The Power of Women in Country Music exhibit is still up, and we encourage guests to take a look at that exhibit while they’re here.”
Ashley Cleveland, Karen Staley, and Tricia Walker, along with Pam Tillis, were members of the talented foursome that was the first female “in the round” group at the Bluebird Cafe, one of the world’s preeminent listening rooms, located in Nashville. Their first show together was in 1988, and they have continued to perform together for select dates over the years. This performance at GRAMMY Museum Mississippi will feature the songwriters swapping stories and taking turns playing their songs and accompanying each other instrumentally and with harmony vocals.
Women in The Round, a part of the Museum’s Big Night program series, will take place on Monday, April 19. Tickets for the fundraiser are $100 and include a pre-event reception and boxed meal starting at 6 pm. Funds raised from the event will go directly to support the education programs of GRAMMY Museum Mississippi. Prior to the event, on Sunday, April 18, GRAMMY Museum Mississippi will host a special screening and moderated discussion of the film Bluebird: The Movie, a documentary about the famous club considered an “accidental landmark that changed music history.” The screening will start at 2:30 pm in the Sanders Soundstage at GRAMMY Museum Mississippi, and tickets are $20.
Both events will celebrate women in music and will take place during the final days of the Museum’s current special exhibit, Stronger Together: The Power of Women in Country Music, sponsored by Blue Cross Blue Shield. The exhibit is open now through May 3, 2021.
For ticket information, contact GRAMMY Museum Mississippi at (662) 441-0100, or visit www.grammymuseumms.org.
Ashley Cleveland is a three-time GRAMMY® and two-time Dove Award winner who has released nine critically acclaimed albums. God Don’t Never Change features songs rooted firmly in a “host of traditions — Black spirituals, folks songs, 18th century hymns, gospel blues, and jubilee.” The album was nominated for a GRAMMY in 2010 for Best Traditional Gospel Album. Three of her albums have been on Billboard’s year-end best list and, in addition to her own recordings, she has contributed background vocals on over 300 records over the course of her career. Her 10th album, One More Song, was released in 2017. Cleveland resides in Nashville with her husband, Kenny Greenberg, and their three children, Rebecca, Henry, and Lily.
Karen Staley was born in Weirton, West Virginia, and was raised in nearby rural Hookstown, Pennsylvanie, in the Tri State area of West Virginia, Pennsylvania, and Ohio. She is a 30-year veteran of the Nashville music industry and has been involved in every facet of the business, from songwriting and performing to touring, recording, and producing. Staley’s songs have been nominated for GRAMMY, Dove, and International Bluegrass Awards, and her song, “Keeper Of The Stars,” won the ACM Song of the Year award and was featured on CMT’s “100 Greatest Country Love Songs of All Time” TV special.
Kathy Mattea has been hailed by the Washington Post as “one of Nashville’s finest song interpreters” and has enjoyed much success and acclaim during her 35-year career in country, bluegrass, and folk music, including two GRAMMY wins, four CMA awards, four No. 1 singles, and five gold albums, plus a platinum Greatest Hits collection. Her latest project, Pretty Bird, is a wide-ranging collection of songs that chronicles a period of rededication to singing, digging back in with a vocal coach, and emerging with a poignant and eclectic album. Mattea is increasingly involved with public broadcasting, as well as consulting and contributing on screen in Ken Burns’ 2019 documentary for PBS, Country Music.
Tricia Walker is a singer and songwriter whose songs are steeped in the passion, pain, and grace of the American South. Born and raised in Mississippi, Walker has become one of the clearest voices of her own time and place. Her music has been recorded by Faith Hill, Patty Loveless, and Alison Krauss, whose performance of Walker’s “Looking in the Eyes of Love” earned a GRAMMY. A recording artist herself, Walker’s most recent album, Crooked Letter, Crooked Letter Eye, is a collection of songs with a continued perspective of the South with lyrics and melodies that reflect her folk, R&B, and storytelling influences.
