ALSO AT SONGBIRDS
› Where: Songbirds Guitar Museum, 35 Station St. (North) and 41 Station St. (South).An Evening with Angie Aparo› When: 7 p.m., Thursday, Aug. 16› Admission: $15Bluetastic Fangrass› When: 7 p.m. Friday, Aug. 17› Admission: $10 in advance, $12 day of showTorpedoes Be Damned: A Tribute to the Life and Music of Tom Petty› When: 9 p.m., Friday, Aug. 17› Admission: $12Neon Moon: The Ultimate ’90s Country Tribute Bandwith Ben Chapman› When: 9 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 18› Admission: $12 in advance, $15 day of showNash Next Contest› When: 6 p.m. Sunday, Aug. 19› Admission: $5› For more information: 423-531-2473
A new exhibit is opening Saturday, Aug. 18, at Songbirds Guitar Museum that pays tribute to pioneering female guitar players.
Sister Rosetta Tharpe (Associated Press file photo)
Nancy Wilson (Photo by Jeff Daly/Invision/The Associated Press)"Six-String Queens" will feature 14 women as well as a nod to Chattanooga Girls Rock. The temporary exhibit will be housed in the Green Room inside Songbirds, which contains the world's largest private collection of rare, vintage guitars.
"Like any museum, this is a motivational, educational museum," says Irv Berner, Songbirds general manager. "When you read trade magazines, music magazines, you'll find that half the new kids learning to play guitar today are young girls. You have way more girls than boys playing guitar. We felt this was a way to get women and girls involved; let them know women have been doing this for years."
Berner says the exhibit begins with industry pioneers of the 1920s and '30s - Mother Maybelle Carter, Elizabeth Cotten, Sister Rosetta Tharp.
"Then we bounce to the late '40s, with Mary Ford (wife of Les Paul) and Carol Kaye, who was featured in the 'Wrecking Crew' documentary that talked about studio musicians in LA who were backing musicians for the Beach Boys, Sonny and Cher. Carol Kaye played bass on those classic tracks," says Berner.
That moves the exhibit forward to the 1960s and '70s: Bonnie Raitt and Joni Mitchell.
"You've got the first all-girl rock groups, The Runaways with Joan Jett. Then there is Nancy Wilson of Heart and Sheryl Crow."
This exhibit focuses more on these women's stories than their guitars - what the world was like when they started playing as opposed to today - although it does include one of Wanda Jackson's guitars.
In conjunction with the new exhibit, Songbirds is scheduling several female acts up through the first of 2019. Michelle Gauthier kicks off the female gigs on Aug. 21. Also already booked are Kim Richey, Sept. 20; Striking Matches, Oct. 6; Ana Popovic, Oct. 10; EG Kight Trio, Oct. 31; and Jennifer Daniels, Oct. 26.
Muriel Anderson and Suzy Bogguss have been booked for early 2019, according to Mike Dougher, Songbirds entertainment coordinator.
"Six-String Queens" is included in Songbirds' All-Access Tour. The tour fee is $35 plus $7.37 fee and sales tax per individual; $125 plus $11.56 sales tax for a family four-pack.
For more information: https://events.songbirds.rocks.
Elizabeth Cotten (Facebook.com photo)