Russellville Blues will present a free concert on Friday, Aug. 7, featuring the music of Ray Charles and Mary Ann Fisher.
Soloists will include two of Mary Ann Fisher’s friends during the latter part of her life, Marjorie Marshall and Butch Williams. They will be singing the songs that we all know from the musical library of Charles and Fisher, and they will be joined by Tyrone Dunn and Travis Long, who will put their own spin on some of these great hits.
The band backing up these singers will be ZoGo, featuring, Alonzo Pennington, Andy Torian, Gerry Smoot and Michael Gough, along with saxophonist Eric Allen, trumpeter Kevin Goodknight and keyboardist Brauninger McDaniel. The second set will feature the artists’ picks of their favorite classic soul hits from the 70's.
This concert is part of the annual 8th of August Emancipation Celebration Weekend, and it will be held on the grounds of the African American Heritage Museums at the corner of 6th and Morgan streets in Russellville.
An exhibit on Fisher’s life is displayed in one of the museums, and there will be free admission to all of the museums during the weekend.
Plenty of food and beverages will be available during the weekend’s events, and guests to the concert are encouraged to bring a lawn chair for the show that will begin around 7:30 pm.
The Platinum Presenting Sponsor for the concert is Bluegrass Cellular. Event Sponsors are R J Corman, WRUS and Robey Farms. Several other local businesses and individuals are financial supporters of these community events.
For more information, visit www.russellvilleblues.com or the Russellville Blues Facebook page.