Songs, Stories, HistoryJAMES 'SPARKY' RUCKER is a folklorist, historian, musician, storyteller, and author. He has been singing songs and telling stories from the American tradition for more than thirty-five years. His songs become windows into carefully researched history--of the song itself and of the culture that produced the song. Sparky accompanies himself on guitar, banjo, and spoons. His guitar work ranges from the gentle strum of a ballad to intricate bottleneck blues slides. Over it all is his rich baritone voice. SPARKY'S MUSIC INCLUDES railroad songs, Appalachian music, old-time blues, slave songs, Civil War music, gospel, work songs, cowboy music, ballads, and his own original compositions.SPARKY RUCKER BEGAN playing guitar at age eleven. He also played trumpet in the junior high marching band and sang in church, school, and community choirs throughout his childhood. After graduating from University of Tennessee, Sparky taught school in Chattanooga. He was active in the civil rights movement, playing freedom songs at rallies, marches, and sit-ins, alongside other folksingers such as Guy Carawan and Pete Seeger. He also learned guitar techniques and songs from other such mentors as Reverend Pearly Brown, Babe Stovall, John Jackson, Buddy Moss, Johnny Shines, and Sister Bessie Jones. MR. RUCKER WAS PREVIOUSLY a public school teacher, though his current brand of teaching is different from the usual classroom style. He weaves music into captivating stories that the history books don't always tell. His programs include 'The Buffalo, Eagle, and Silver Spur,' which tells the hidden history of the minorities in the American West, and 'The Blue & Gray in Black & White,' a look at the American Civil war. He is also currently researching Confederate General James Edward Rains, who had a promising political career before the war as editor of the Nashville Banner and Davidson County's attorney general.SPARKY RUCKER HAS BEEN HEARD on numerous radio programs, including National Public Radio's Morning Edition, Prairie Home Companion, and Mountain Stage. He also performed in Carry It On and Amazing Grace: Music in America, two videos produced by the Public Broadcasting System. He is a popular teacher at folk music camps and schools such as Common Ground on the Hill in Maryland and the Augusta Heritage Center in West Virginia. He has appeared at the National Storytelling Festival in Jonesboro, Tennessee, the Festival of Storytelling on Martha's Vineyard, Motlow State Community College's Storytelling Festival, and the Texas Storytelling Festival. In 2000, he contributed to More Ready-To-Tell Tales, an anthology of stories from many of the nation's best professional storytellers. As an author, Sparky recently contributed to Breathing the Same Air, an East Tennessee anthology of writings released in 2000. Sparky and his wife Rhonda (a performer and author herself) are also writing articles for the Encyclopedia of Appalachia, which will soon be published by the University of Tennessee Press. 'Sparky has a rare musical talent combined with a scholarly interest in his material.'
Sam HintonAdmission: $14; FGSW Members $10; Residents of the Town of Glen Echo admitted free as a thank-you for the use of their beautiful Town Hall.
