MAC Talks presents Colonel JD Wilkes

Grammy-nominated soundtrack artist J.D. Wilkes waltzes around the Bluegrass, looking for oprys, socials, porch pickins and barn dances in every holler–somewhere in between, we asked him to come to Maiden Alley Cinema and tell us about his adventures in music, art, travel, his new book Barn Dances and Jamborees Across Kentucky and all the things in between.

Kentuckians have been wearing out shoe leather at informal jamborees since the state was settled over two hundred years ago. Tadpole’s Dew Drop Inn played host to some fifteen hundred musical shindigs in its time as a mecca of Marshall County music. A Rosine barn dance gave bluegrass founder Bill Monroe his start, and another fosters new musical talent at its weekly get-togethers. Clawhammer banjo players, Appalachian cloggers and square dance callers from Possum Trot to Rabbit Hash celebrate the unique musical culture of Kentucky.