On Wednesdays from May 29 - June 26, 2024, CSSB partnered with Duke Arts to curate a FREE outdoor concert series at Duke Gardens, hosting an array of incredible artists in the CSSB ecosystem (see below) and spotlighting five community organizations who are transforming Durham’s local foodways.
All concerts were broadcast LIVE ON WXDU!
RUCKUS ROCK REVIVAL
Blue Cactus, Kym Register and Kamara Thomas trace their country-rock lineages, paying tribute to rock inventors Sister Rosetta Tharpe and Link Wray, and exploring the legacies of Linda Ronstadt and Rodriguez– two Mexican Americans whose music careers found very different trajectories in the rock milieu of the late 60s and 70s.
Foodways Community Partner: The Mustardseed Project
CHARLY LOWRY & THE LOWRIE GANG
Lumbee-Tuscarora singer-songwriter Charly Lowry, along with special guests Mark McKinney & Co. and Rob Cole, plays her electrifying originals and explores indigenous contributions to the roots music landscape by paying tribute to legendary Lumbee musician Willie French Lowery and the iconic Redbone, the first indigenous rock band to reach the US Billboard Hot 100.
Foodways Community Partner: Feed Durham
THE STOMP
Join fiddler extraordinaire Brian Farrow, New Orleans-based singer-songwriter Dusky Waters and local musicians Sinclair Palmer and Brevan Hampden as they cook up an energetically acoustic musical gumbo to pay tribute to Nina Simone and New Orleans guitar and violin pioneer Lonnie Johnson.
Foodways Community Partner: Black Farmers Market
JUNETEENTH JAMBOREE
Celebrate Juneteenth led by three powerhouse artists of color who use their music as a vehicle for community organizing. Join Kyshona, Grace Givertz and front line activist Sam Rise as they sing the music of freedom movements and pay tribute to the incredible storytelling, oral traditions and sonic contributions of the seminal Elizabeth Cotten, roots chameleon Ruthie Foster and civil rights icons Odetta, Sweet Honey in the Rock, Toshi Reagon and Bernice Johnson Reagon.
Foodways Community Partner: Tall Grass Food Box
Additional Featured Partner: Black Opry
BLACK SOUTHERN RENAISSANCE
Truth-telling poetry and modern blues unite as North and South Carolina natives Adia Victoria and Shirlette Ammons collaborate to explore emergent sounds, blur genre lines and redefine southern music.
Tributing: Gladys Bentley & Victoria Spivey
Foodways Community Partner: FARM AID