Michael Reno Harrell is an award winning songwriter, as well as a veteran storyteller and entertainer, and he’s from the South… the Southern Appalachian Mountains to hone it a bit finer. Michael's recordings top the Americana Music Association charts year after year. His original songs and stories have been described as “Appalachian grit and wit” but, as his writing shows, Michael’s awareness is much broader than the bounds of his boyhood home or even the Southern Experience. Having toured throughout the British Isles and much of Europe, as well as most of the US, the songs he writes and the stories he creates reflect an insight into people’s experiences that catch the ear like an old friend's voice.

Michael's natural knack for storytelling, in print, song and spoken word has earned him praise from not only the music community but from the literary and storytelling worlds as well, having had the honor of being a Featured Teller at the National Storytelling Festival and to be Teller In Residence at the International Storytelling Center, as well as performing at major music events like MerleFest and the Walnut Valley Festival. His humor and wit, as well as the emotional depth of his work, keep his fan base growing and staying tuned in for whatever comes next. Don’t miss the chance to experience what those faithful fans keep returning again and again to enjoy.

February 18

William Henry Singleton's Recollections of My Slavery Days: A North Carolian Slave's View of the

Civil War and Its Legacies with Dr. Katherine Mellen Charron

1-2 PM

FREE program

Bad Weather Date - February 25

Free multi-media public presentation appropriate for adults and high school students presented by the Gaston County Museum of Art & History and Gaston County Public Library and Friends of the Gaston County Public Library in conjunction with the North Carolina Humanities Council’s Road Scholars Speakers Series.

Reservations suggested to insure seating – Jeff Pruett – 704.922.7681 x101

In 1922, the former slave and Union Army veteran William Henry Singleton published an autobiography that provides a fascinating glimpse of life in a North Carolina coastal city and rural neighborhood. His Recollections of My Slavery Days vividly reminds us how slavery impacted black and white families, the church, and the marketplace in the antebellum South as well as the upheaval that accompanied the Civil War. The talk explores what Singleton’s narrative reveals about a place and the people in it, about slavery and freedom, and the bridge between the two. For Singleton, that bridge was built in the crucible of the Civil War and rested on the militant black political self-assertion that emerged early in the war in coastal North Carolina. Considering the fifty-seven years between the war’s end and Singleton’s writing, this talk also takes up the question of memory, of what we choose to remember, how we remember it, and why that matters.

March

March 7

Coffee with the Curator

10:30 - 11:30 AM

FREE program

Curator, Stephanie Elliott identifies objects and provides preservation assistance on pieces brought to the museum. If objects are too large please bring photographs. Object donations to the museum will also be considered. No appointment needed, three item limit per person, and no monetary appraisals at this program.

March 9

Music at the Depot - The David Childers Trio

6:30 - 8:30 PM

$10/Advance, $15/Door

Online tickets - http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/216387

RSVP required to Jeff Pruett at 704.922.7681 x101

David Childers, Robert Childers, and Randy Saxon began playing together in 2003 in David Childers and The Modern Don Juans, a bar band well known in the area for putting on high energy shows that filled dance floors. Along with former bassist Mark Lynch, they played venues from New York City to Atlanta on a regular basis, appeared on Mountain Stage, a prestigious radio show out of West Virginia, did 2 successful music tours of The Netherlands, had 3 Number One Americana albums in Europe; and were named one of the 10 best bands in the Southeast by Creative Loafing in 2007. As good as that sounds, it never translated into the kind of success bands need to survive.

The trio developed from a desire to find new songs, dig up old songs, and nurture spontaneity. Childers stated, “With the trio, I can throw anything out, and Robert and Randy know what to do. Simplicity. I need it. Robert is my son and he grew up playing with me or hearing me play. It’s a biological connection. From the first time I ever played with Randy I was impressed with his ability to grab songs on the fly. He’s a kind of weird genius when it comes to knowing what to play. It’s a happy place for our music and for me.”

March 17

Bryan Grimes: Soldier & Citizen with Dr. John Dr. Peacock

1-2 PM

FREE program

Reservations suggested to insure seating – Jeff Pruett – 704.922.7681 x101

In a people’s war, such as the American Civil War, many men with no professional military training rose to positions of high command. Many of these so-called citizen soldiers did not measure up to the challenges of command. One who did was Bryan Grimes of NC. Grimes rose from the rank of major to major general and fought with distinction in many of the foremost battles in the Eastern theatre of war. This program highlights the evolving leadership of Bryan Grimes.

131 W. Main Street, Dallas, North Carolina
Email: museum@co.gaston.nc.us Phone: 704-922-7681
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