Annie Moses Band perfects ‘The Art of the Love Song’
The Athens Area Council for the Arts opens its 2016-17 Big Time/Small Town Performance Season tonight, Sept. 8, with an encore performance by the Annie Moses Band, siblings who bring Juilliard-honed chops to Nashville-style music-making.
The six instrumentalists and vocalists will present their new show, “The Art of the Love Song.” The show includes treasured love songs of the last century, presented with an oldschool elegance in the mold of Grace Kelly and Cary Grant.
The band keeps a classical aesthetic in these songs, while flavoring them with retro strings and gypsy-jazz violin. They’ve plucked repertoire from the Great American Songbook of the ’40s and ’50s, then borrowed from such soulful folk/rock songsmiths of the ’60s and ’70s as Don McLean, Paul Williams and John Lennon. The cinematic arrangements are compliments of award-winning composer Bill Wolaver.
The Annie Moses Band is led by Annie Wolaver Dupre, a violinist and vocalist who is named after her great-grandmother, Annie Moses. She’s joined by brothers Alex Wolaver (viola), Benjamin Wolaver (cello) and Jeremiah Wolaver (electric guitar); and sisters Camille Da Silva (piano, harp) and Gretchen Wolaver (violin, mandolin, guitar).
The band’s innovative sound has found audiences in record-breaking numbers of airings on PBS stations and on stages as diverse as Carnegie Hall and the Grand Ole Opry.
The band will be joined by the Athens Area Children’s Choir, a 23-voice ensemble making its 201617 debut.
The Big Time/Small Town season continues in 2017 with Motown tribute band Masters of Soul on Feb. 3 and Latin band Tiempo Libre on April 7. Concertgoers who purchase a season ticket package save at least 40 percent over the price of single tickets. Big Time/Small Town season ticketholders also receive a discount on the purchase of Monroe Area Council for the Arts’ performance season tickets when purchased at the same time. For more information on the MACA season, visit monroearts.com or call 423-442-3210.