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Blowing Rock Art and History Museum Hosts Michael Reno Harrell and Elizabeth Hudson in Events This Month

July 8, 2014. The Blowing Rock Art and History Museum will host Michael Reno Harrell as part of the Sunday Concert Series on Sunday, July 13. The concert begins at 5:30 p.m. in the atrium of the museum. Tickets are $20 with light refreshments to follow.

michaelharrellMichael Reno Harrell is an award-winning songwriter as well as a veteran storyteller and entertainer from the Southern Appalachian Mountains. Michael’s recordings top the Americana Music Association charts year after year. His original songs and stories have been described as “Appalachian grit and wit” but, as his writing shows, Michael’s awareness is much broader than the bounds of his boyhood home or even the Southern Experience.

Having toured throughout the British Isles and much of Europe as well as most of the U.S., the songs he writes and the stories he creates reflect an insight into people’s experiences that catch the ear like an old friend’s voice.

Michael’s natural knack for storytelling, in print, song and spoken word, has earned his praise from not only the music community but from the literary and storytelling worlds as well, having had the honor of being a featured storyteller at the National Storytelling Festival and to be Teller in Residence at the International Storytelling Center as well as performing at major music events like MerleFest and the Walnut Valley Festival. Along with his performances, Michael often conducts workshops in songwriting and storytelling as well.

Michael’s recordings have for years received and continue to garner awards in Country, Americana and Folk circles. His humor and wit as well as the emotional depth of his work keep his fan base growing and staying tuned in for whatever comes next.

For additional information or to purchase tickets please call the BRAHM at 828-295-9099.

Elizabeth Hudson Photo2Our State Magazine editor Elizabeth Hudson will be July’s Third Thursday speaker at the Blowing Rock Art and History Museum. The talk will begin at 4:30 p.m. in the Community Meeting Room on Thursday, July 17. The talk is free to museum members and $5 for non-members.

Elizabeth Hudson is a native of North Carolina who grew up in the small community of Farmer near Asheboro. She holds a B.A. degree in English from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro and began her publishing career in 1997 at Our State Magazine where she started in the circulation department answering telephones before moving to the editorial department. She held various editorial titles for ten years before becoming Editor in Chief of the 80-year-old publication in 2009.

Through her work with the magazine for 16 years, she has learned where to find the best barbecue – eastern and Lexington-style- and she also knows where to find our state’s most photographed waterfalls. On the Outer Banks, she was walked in the same sand where pirates once tread, and she knows how much milk makes a perfect bowl of Southern snow cream.

Under Elizabeth’s editorial leadership, the magazine’s paid circulation grew more than 30 percent from 130,000 in 2009 to more than 175,000 this year. Each month, she works with the top writers and photographers in the country to produce a magazine that has garnered national attention and in 2011 and 2012, Our State won consecutive Gold Eddies for “Best Issue” of a regional magazine in the country, the top holor from FOLIO: Magazine, the magazine industry’s leading publication recognizing editorial excellence.

For additional information, contact Allison Wonsick, Communications Coordinator, at 828-295-9099.