Thursday, November 3, 2003

WRITER: Philip Lee Williams, 706/542-8501, phil@franklin.uga.edu
CONTACT: Elissa R. Henken, 706/542-9262, ehenken@uga.edu

Folk music authority Joe Hickerson to perform in Athens, speak on University of Georgia campus

ATHENS, Ga. – Joe Hickerson, a leading authority on American folk music as an archivist, folklorist, ethnomusicologist and performer (voice and guitar), will perform in Athens on Nov. 15 and speak on the university campus the following day.

Hickerson will perform in concert at the Flicker Theatre on Washington Street in downtown Athens on Tuesday, Nov. 15, at 8:30 p.m. There will be an admission charge. He will speak the following day, Nov. 16, at 4 p.m. in room 265 Park Hall, and his lecture is entitled, “O Brother, Where Have All the Songcatchers Gone?” This presentation is open free to the public.

Hickerson’s visit to Athens is sponsored by the UGA Center for Humanities and Arts, the department of English and the Athens Folk Music and Dance Society.

Hickerson has used his expertise to document the interface between orally produced and mechanically/electronically reproduced music. Now retired from the Library of Congress, where he was head of the Archive of Folk Culture, he continues his other work, including his own concerts and recordings and performances with others, such as Pete Seeger. He is deeply involved with song and copyright searches (such as for O Brother, Where Art Thou, Cold Mountain and CDs by Ralph Stanley, Ollabelle, Peggy Seeger and Tony Saletan), and serving in professional societies.

Among other accomplishments, he is the author of the fourth and fifth verses of "Where Have All the Flowers Gone?"