American Spiritual Ensemble in Calhoun, Ga. - Feb. 9

The American Spiritual Ensemble will play the only Georgia date on its 2014 tour at the Gem Theatre in Calhoun at 3 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 9. The group's 24 professional vocalists are committed to preserving Negro spirituals, what founder Everett McCorvey, third from left, calls "mother music," because it started the tradition that led to blues to jazz to gospel to popular music. "They're the songs of the cotton fields, songs of anguish and pain and hope, and it helped form our American society," he told The Daily Times of Maryville, Tenn. Spirituals, he said, were not gospel music, rather simple melodies for painful times -- music developed out of field hollers, songs of praise, pleas for salvation and lamentations of agony, all sung by African-Americans during slavery. The ensemble's repertoire also includes classical, jazz and Broadway numbers that highlight the black experience. Tickets are $15 for adults, $5 for children. To purchase, call 706-625-3132, visit the box office at 114 N. Wall St., or go to www.calhoungem.org.

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