Sparky & Rhonda Rucker Coming to Gainesville!

2008-12-09T03:06:00.000-08:00

Shake off those Superstition Blues and come to hear

Sparky & Rhonda Rucker

Friday, February 13, 2009

at 8:00 pm in

The Baird Center, 617 South Main Street, Gainesville

Hear "The Music of America," as NPR's Tom Ashbrook says on his On Point radio program:

Sparky Rucker grew up black in Knoxville, Tennessee, the son of a family of preachers and policemen, who fell in love with the blues and then all of American folk and the stories of American history.

Rhonda Hicks Rucker grew up white in Louisville, Kentucky, trained to be a doctor, then fell in love with the blues harmonica — and with Sparky.

Now they travel America’s highways and byways with a wagon-load of American history and legend and song. And when they perform, Americans gather round, and listen again.
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Sparky and Rhonda Rucker have performed throughout the U.S., singing songs and telling stories from the American tradition. Sparky Rucker has been performing over forty years and is internationally recognized as a leading folklorist, musician, historian, storyteller, and author.

Rhonda Rucker is an accomplished harmonica and piano player, and also adds vocal harmonies to their songs. She has developed her own unique style of playing harmonica, which complements their music, whether they are playing railroad songs, Appalachian music, blues, slave songs, Civil War music, gospel, work songs, cowboy music, ballads, or Sparky Rucker's original compositions.

The couple has 11 recordings to their credit, and performance highlights include Kennedy Center teacher workshops, 2003 Smithsonian Folklife Festival, and the International Children’s Festival.
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"Sparky Rucker is unique! He'll make you glad to be alive and struggling." Pete Seeger
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Whether garbed in the uniform of a Union soldier or in his more familiar black boots, vest, neckerchief, and cowboy hat, Sparky is sure to deliver an uplifting presentation of toe-tapping music spiced with humor, history, and tall tales. He takes an audience on an educational and emotional journey that ranges from poignant stories of slavery and war to an amusing rendition of a Brer Rabbit tale or his witty commentaries on current events.

Sparky has appeared 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.