Three innovators of modern acoustic guitar music will come together for a celebratory concert on September 23. The program honors the Southern Folklife Collection on the occasion of its 30^th anniversary.

Although the concert at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill’s Hill Hall is free, tickets are required: go.unc.edu/SFC30.

Bringing their talents to the SFC celebration will be these artists, each with playing with a distinctive sound from a wide range of musical traditions:

• Yasmin Williams – Williams is an acoustic fingerstyle guitarist with an unorthodox, modern style of playing. Her music employs techniques that include alternate tunings, percussive hits and lap tapping. NPR music said Williams “transcends the standard idea of what a guitarist should do.” Her first album, “Unwind” (May 2018), has charted on Amazon, iTunes and Billboard’s Heatseekers chart.
• Daniel Bachman – Bachman finds inspiration for his American Primitive style in sources as diverse as the sounds of nature, drone music of the East and archival field recordings. In 2015, Rolling Stone Magazine named him one of “10 New Artists You Need to Know” for his solo acoustic guitar. NPR called his 2018 album, “The Morning Star,” his most ambitious and experimental, on which Bachman is “sculpting sound, with an openness to ideas that forces convention to take a back seat.”
• Michael Daves – Georgia-born Daves is a “leading light of the New York bluegrass scene,” according the New York Times. He plays guitar and mandolin and is a ubiquitous teacher both in New York and through his online master classes. He plays frequently with artists including Chris Thile, Steve Martin, and Rosanne Cash, and will appear in Chapel Hill with his frequent collaborator, award-winning banjo player Tony Trischka. 

“We’re excited to bring these emerging artists together to usher in the SFC’s next great decade,” said Steve Weiss, curator of the Southern Folklife Collection, which is part of the Wilson Special Collections Library at the University Libraries.

The Southern Folklife Collection collects, preserves and disseminates music, art and culture related to the American South. Its 30^th anniversary celebration is supported thanks to a generous grant from the Martin Guitar Charitable Foundation.