Writer, musician and folklorist Bland Simpson will present an evening of songs stories and skits at 7:30 p.m., Wednesday, Oct. 24 in Yeager Recital Hall, located in the Faith Rockefeller Model Center for the Arts on the Elon campus. Simpson’s appearance, sponsored by Sigma Tau Delta national honor society, is free and open to the public.
Simpson’s work is based on his stories and sketches about rural North Carolina life and his Broadway musical “Big Muddy.” He has written several books about southern life, including “Heart of the Country: A Novel of Southern Music,” and “Into the Sound Country: A Carolinian’s Coastal Plain.”
A member of the Tony Award-winning string band The Red Clay Ramblers, Simpson has toured extensively since joining the band in 1986. The group has appeared on national radio broadcasts, including “Mountain Stage” and “A Prairie Home Companion” with Garrison Keillor.
Simpson is director of the creative writing program at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. He has been honored with the North Carolina Folklore Society’s Brown-Hudson Award for his writing and music about state heritage, as well as the Conservation Communicator of the Year award, administered by the North Carolina Wildlife Federation.
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