Songwriter lends wry humor to songs about farming
Songwriter Susan Werner, who has been singing about farms and farmers for years, will appear at 8 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 7. Her show, called The Hayseed Project, refers to her latest album, called Hayseed, which came out in June. Her performance will take place in the Carlsen Center’s Polsky Theatre. On the recording, Werner once again lends her wry humor and passionate voice to subjects such as farmers markets, agrochemicals, climate change, longing for a sense of place and the move toward sustainable farming. With Hayseed, Werner continues her reign as one of the most bold and creative forces on the acoustic music scene today. Werner grew up on a farm outside Manchester, Iowa. She made her debut at the age of 5 playing guitar and singing at St. Mary’s Catholic Church in Manchester. She learned both guitar and piano by ear. After earning a degree in voice at the University of Iowa, she attended Temple University in Philadelphia where she took up opera. She opted to forego a career in that genre in favor of songwriting. She launched her career with the self-released Midwestern Saturday Night in 1993. Hayseed is the fourth in a series of concept albums, beginning with 2004’s I Can’t Be New. “I like concept albums because they give the audience and the artists a place to meet – something in common to talk about right from the word ‘go,‘“ Werner states on her website. She made Hayseed to honor her parents and their way of life. “There‘s a changing of the guard taking place in American agriculture,” Werner said. “Farmers like my father and mother are retiring and new farmers are starting out. I wanted to honor my parents and their way of life and I want to be part of the conversation about what happens next, what farming looks like this year, next year, 10 years from now.” Tickets $25 www.jccc.edu/TheSeries 913-469-4445
A farmer’s fair will take place in the lobby before and after the show to allow the audience to meet vendors and taste samples. The evening is supported by the JCCC Sustainability Committee. Hayseed was commissioned by the Lied Center at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.
Nick Charles brings his brand of fingerpicking to Polsky Theatre Guitarist Nick Charles, one of Australia’s best acoustic roots and blues fingerpickers, will appear at 7 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 15, in the Carlsen Center’s Polsky Theatre. Charles is a regular at international festivals from Edinburgh, Scotland, to the Walnut Valley Festival in Winfield, Kan. He’s played alongside B.B. King, Taj Mahal, Guy Clark, Chris Smither and Dan Crary. The world-class composer’s fingers pick and fly across the frets as he performs an eclectic mix of blues, folk and early ragtime jazz on six- and 12-string guitars. Attending a Nick Charles concert, the audience travels through 25 years of stories and songs from his musical highway that spans the globe. The Black Rose Acoustic Society in Colorado describes him as “a world-class stylist and composer,” and the Melbourne Age has labeled him as “Australia’s virtuoso of acoustic roots and blues.” Charles has released many albums on major roots and guitar music labels. He has garnered world-wide recognition for a series of releases on Black Market Music, beginning with My Place and now his most recent albums, Closer to Home and Return of the Traveling Fingerpicker. He also has been signed to the Grammy award-winning label of Solid Air Records USA. He averages 150 shows a year in Australia, New Zealand, the United States and the United Kingdom. Tickets $25 www.jccc.edu/TheSeries 913-469-4445