By Madison Butkus
Hometown Weekly Reporter
Historian, author, radio host, and percussionist Craig Harris hosted his event “America’s Musical Roots: Songs and Stories” this past Wednesday night at The Center to a crowd full of guests. This foot-tapping program traces from the Appalachian ballads, fiddles, and banjos all the way to the world of bluegrass, newgrass, and Americana music.
Harris played his bongo to an array of different songs, showed a video of the progression/changes of bluegrass throughout the years, as well as discussed his own personal journey through the music industry. He has been writing about music since 1971 and is currently writing a new book that includes more research on the real, true American musical roots. Over the years, he has impressively collected over 80,000 records and states humorously, “Moving is not fun.”
When discussing the progression of bluegrass, Harris had mentioned that after the depression, there was a moment where one thought that this type of music was going to disappear forever. As time went on, not only did bluegrass survive, but also different versions of it were created. In relation to this, Harris stated, “To me, bluegrass is just part of a big spectrum, a big rainbow of sound, and I love to embrace all of it.”
This is the first time that the Medfield Public Library and The Center at Medfield have collaborated for an event together. Programming librarian, Bri Ozanne, was there representing the library and stated, “Thank you all for having the library here. We are really excited to start joining forces and have more performances and bigger programs like this up here where we have more space and way more parking. This is a great way for the library to help bring more people to The Center at Medfield so I am really excited for this.” With this being said, one can hope for more collaborative events in the future hosted at The Center at Medfield.
