PRESS RELEASE
For Immediate Release
The Arts Council
Contact: Kevin Ledgewood
pr@tuscarts.org
205-758-5195, x6
ACOUSTIC NIGHT WILL FEATURE PERFORMANCES BY AMY MCCARLEY AND CHAMBLESS & MUSE
(Tuscaloosa) Amy McCarley and Chambless & Muse will be the featured performers during Acoustic Night on May 22, 2014 at 7:30 p.m. Presented by The Arts Council of Tuscaloosa, the project features both solo and ensemble performances of a wide range of acoustic music throughout the calendar year in the intimate setting of the Bama Theatre’s Greensboro Room. Cover charge is $5 with a full service bar available.
Amy McCarley
Growing up in rural Alabama, Amy McCarley’s interest in music and emotive storytelling blossomed in grade school when she formed her first rock band with classmates and spent hours rehearsing in the attic of her grandparents’ barn. McCarley says “Music is just something that’s always been on my mind. Ever since I can remember I’ve admired the ability to conduct emotion; to convey meaning in that way.” After 4 short years in Houston, Texas, she returned to Alabama. Performing locally with the occasional regional outburst for over a decade, she went on hiatus to dedicate herself more fully to writing, recording, mixing and playing all the instruments on the tracks she put down in her home. Working towards the completion of her second record, McCarley has teamed with Grammy award-winning guitarist, producer Kenny Vaughan, and some of Nashville’s most revered talent. A mid-2014 release date is anticipated.
Chambless and Muse
Originally from Montgomery, Ala., Jil Chambless now resides in Tuscaloosa and has played an active role in the Celtic music scene for more than 20 years. As singer and flute and whistle player, she has completed many recording projects and performed at Celtic festivals and concerts across the United States as well as in Canada, Scotland and Israel with the band Henri’s Notions, guitarist Scooter Muse, Scottish singer Ed Miller, Scottish fiddler John Taylor, the band Vulcan Eejits!, the Vogt Family Contra Band and others. She brings to any audience a wonderful listening experience from haunting ballads and upbeat songs to toe-tapping tunes with a smooth delivery that never fails to bring both smiles and tears to every performance.
Already an accomplished guitarist, Scooter Muse purchased his first banjo in 1972 and almost 40 years later has been fortunate to win countless banjo competitions throughout the southeast including the Tennessee Valley Championships eight times. He has performed with bluegrass legends Claire Lynch, Vassar Clements and a host of others as well as handling first call banjo duties for the world famous Muscle Shoals, Ala. recording industry. While at the Briarfield Bluegrass Festival in Alabama in the early 1980s, he experienced the progressive Celtic sounds of the band Touchstone, launching him into the world of Celtic music on banjo and the world of open tunings on the guitar. In the 1990s he founded the Full Moon Ensemble that toured the U.S., Canada and Scotland and also recorded five critically acclaimed CDs. After a successful 8 year run, the FME went their separate ways and Muse was drafted as the guitar player for the longest running Celtic band in the south, Henri’s Notions, based in Tuscaloosa, Ala. In 2005 he recorded his first solo guitar CD, “Saddell Abbey,” with all original material and music set to the poetry of Robert Burns.
Chambless and Muse recently released their new CD, “The Laverock Sang,” featuring 12 tracks of Scottish and Irish songs.
The Bama Theatre is located at 600 Greensboro Ave. in downtown Tuscaloosa. For more information about The Arts Council or Bama Theatre, patrons should LIKE the Facebook page “The Arts Council – Bama Theatre – Cultural Arts Center” and follow tuscarts on Twitter. Call 205-758-5195 or visit tuscarts.org for further information.
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