What to do in Oklahoma on Jan. 6, 2103: Hear Ellis Paul play 2 shows at Norman Depot
Today’s featured event:
NORMAN – The Performing Arts Studio welcomes 2013 with two Ellis Paul concerts today in the Norman Depot, 200 S Jones.
The first show will be for families and children, and the second will be a traditional Winter Wind evening concert, both featuring the charismatic, personally authentic Ellis Paul performance style.
A grant from Dr. Victor T. Wilson has allowed PAS to offer “The Hero in You,” a special concert for children and families, free of charge beginning at 2 p.m. Seating is limited to 100. Advance reservations are advised by calling 307-9320.
“The Hero in You,” Paul’s second award-winning family music album, released last year, follows his best-selling 2007 family music album “Dragonfly Races,” a deft, soulful acoustic mix of American folk and contemporary pop in songs that find magic in simple pleasures like road trips and dragonflies. The family concert will feature selections from both albums, both Parents’ Choice Award winners.
“’The Hero in You’ teaches about great Americans, not only well-known figures from Ben Franklin to Albert Einstein, but others like Augustus Jackson, the inventor of ice cream, to Mr. Tee Tott, who taught Hank Williams to play guitar. Kids and parents are definitely in for an entertaining treat with this concert” says Danna Primm, kindergarten teacher in Norman for 28 years and Winter Wind chairman, in the news release.
Though he remains among the most pop-friendly of today’s singer-songwriters, Paul has bridged the gulf between the modern folk sound and the populist traditions of Woody Guthrie and Pete Seeger more successfully than perhaps any of his songwriting peers. One of the leading voices in American songwriting, Paul helped create a movement that revitalized the national acoustic circuit with an urban, literate, folk rock style that helped renew interest in the genre in the ’90s.
Paul’s skyrocketing career is still the stuff of legend in Boston folk circles; how quickly he climbed from opening act for the likes of Bill Morrissey, Shawn Colvin, and John Gorka, to national headliner and recording star. The mayor of Boston, proclaimed it “Ellis Paul Day in Boston” on July 9, 2010, when Ellis celebrated his 20th year in making music.
“There are differences between the me now and the me I was in the early ’90s,” Ellis says in the release. “I have a reliable fan base that keeps a roof over my head, for which I’m so thankful. And I think they’re also willing and forgiving enough for me to go through any evolution I choose, as long as the core of what I do is honest… I feel like I’m more a part of a community now than just a songwriter singing about my own struggles and the struggles of the friends I see around me. Maybe that’s the difference between being a singer-songwriter and being a folk musician”
The Winter Wind Concert begins at 7 p.m. today. Tickets are $20. Advance purchase is recommended.
For more information, go to www.pasnorman.org or www.ticketstorm.com.
For more events, go to www.wimgo.com.
-BAM
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