Pickin' at the Garden: An Interactive Workshop and Concert Series

Athens Music and The State Botanical Garden of Georgia will be putting on the inaugural workshop and concert on Thursday, January 25th at the Day Chapel at the State Botanical Garden of Georgia located at 2450 S. Milledge Avenue. The workshop will kick off at 4:30 p.m. and the concert will happen at 7:00 p.m. The concert will feature traditional and folk music by noted performers Art Rosenbaum (banjo) and Tommy Jordan (guitar, banjo, mandolin). Musicians are encouraged to bring their instruments to the workshop and observers are welcome also. Both events are FREE and open to the public.Due to space limitations, please reserve a spot by registering online at http://botgarden.uga.edu/event/pickin-at-the-garden/

Art Rosenbaum (banjo) is a painter, muralist, and illustrator, as well as a collector and performer of traditional American folk music. His folk music fieldwork in the South and Midwest has resulted in over 14 documentary recordings, several of which are on Smithsonian- Folkways. Two 4 CD Box set compilations, “The Art of Field Recording: Fifty Years of Traditional American Music Documented by Art Rosenbaum were issued by Dust-to-Digital; Vol. I of the project won a Grammy in 2008 for Best Documentary Recording. He wrote and illustrated “Folk Visions and Voices: Traditional Music and Song in North Georgia” (1983) and “Shout Because You're Free: The African American Ring Shout Tradition on the Coast of Georgia” (1998), both published by the University of Georgia Press. He collected material and wrote the text of “The Mary Lomax Ballad Book: America’s Great 21st Century Traditional Singer”, published by Camscomusic/Loomis House (2013). A performer on a variety of folk instruments, he has appeared at numerous folk festivals both solo and with groups like the present-day Skillet Lickers, has cut three banjo/vocal LPs and CD's, and has written and illustrated three instruction books on traditional banjo playing. He is Wheatley Professor in Fine Arts emeritus at the Lamar Dodd School of Art, University of Georgia and in 2003 was a recipient of a Governor of Georgia's Award in the Humanities. Art lives in Athens, Georgia, and is married to Margo Newmark Rosenbaum, a photographer/painter who has worked with him on many projects.

Tommy Jordan (guitar, banjo, mandolin), is well-known in the Athens/Atlanta acoustic music circles, has been performing in Athens and the surrounding area consistently since 1977. He currently leads the well-established traditional acoustic band, String Theory, and was an integral part of the early-1980s Athens music scene with his roles in Turtle Bay Band and Men in Trees and also as a solo artist. He is the only musician to have performed at all 36 of the Athens Human Rights Festivals, as well as playing at AthFest, the Melting Point, the Georgia Theatre and the 40 Watt Club. Tommy’s recent collaboration with guitarist William Tonks (MrJordanMrTonks) represents a move away from traditional roots music to high intensity guitar playing and tight harmony vocals.

Athens Music Project is a UGA research, teaching and outreach initiative supported by the Hugh Hodgson School of Music, Willson Center for Humanities and Arts, A2RU, the Franklin College of Arts and Sciences, and the Office of the Vice President for Research.