Great American Songbook: The Sounds of Nashville

The 2011 Berklee College of Music Signature Series continues with Great American Songbook: The Sounds of Nashville. Berklee students and faculty will tell the story of the Nashville music scene through the songs of acclaimed American country songwriters like Hank Williams, Patsy Cline, Loretta Lynn, Bill Monroe, Alison Krauss, Ray Charles, Johnny Cash, Dolly Parton, the Dixie Chicks, and many others.

Great American Songbook: The Sounds of Nashville takes place on Sunday, February 27 at 7:30 p.m. at the Berklee Performance Center, 136 Massachusetts Avenue, Boston. General admission tickets are $20, $15 reserved seating, and are available at the box office, at ticketmaster.com, or by calling 617 931-2000. For more information, call 617 747-2261 or visit berkleebpc.com. The BPC is wheelchair accessible.

Under the direction of professor Ken Zambello, student and faculty vocalists will perform such Nashville classics as "I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry," "Stand By Your Man," and "I Can't Stop Loving You," along with such contemporary hits as Carrie Underwood's "Last Name" and Lady Antebellum's "Need You Now." The concert will also include performances of duos/duets, bluegrass music, and heartbreak-themed medleys. Student lead vocalists include Hannah Juliano, David Wyatt, Naomi Gillies, Torrence Nelson, Emily Miller, and others. Professor Mike Ihde will make a special guest appearance on pedal steel. A full rhythm section with a strings, horns, and flutes, and a small bluegrass band, will accompany the vocalists. 

For more than 20 years, Berklee students on spring break have participated in Berklee in Nashville, a program designed to help students gain an insider's knowledge of the music industry by meeting and learning from top performers, songwriters, publishers, producers, and engineers. Berklee's Nashville alumni network numbers at upwards of 600 and includes Gillian Welch '92 and David Rawlings '92. Acclaimed Nashville artists/songwriters/producers Mike Reid, Janis Ian, Kathy Mattea, and Kyle Lehning, among others have visited Berklee to meet with students. 

Berklee presents its Great American Songbook concert annually to pay tribute to songwriters whose work has endured over generations and who continue to inspire listeners, and other writers, across the globe. Previous concerts have honored Duke Ellington, Cole Porter, Stevie Wonder, Burt Bacharach, and the music of Motown.