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Rochester Event Will Celebrate Legendary Blues Artist

Son House
en.wikipedia.org
Son House

Legendary blues artist Son House is the inspiration for a four-day event planned for Rochester in the summer of 2015.

House was rediscovered in Rochester in the 1960s, after having given up his soul music for several decades.  Mark Cuddy, artistic director at GevaTheatre, said House had been living in relative obscurity in Corn Hill when his career was re-launched.  He inspired generations of musicians, from Elvis Presley to Mick Jagger.  "Part of what Son House was able to do with the blues is be one with his guitar. He used not just the strings, but the whole instrument and sort of attack the guitar in a very visceral way." 

Cuddy says Geva is looking to collaborate with artists, musicians and writers to tell the story. "I don't know what to expect. There are so many people who were touched by him and who are impassioned about him and who are scholarly about him as well. We don't have all the ideas. That's why it's a collaboration."

The four-day event commemorating the life and work of Son House will be called "A Journey to the Son". It's being funded by a grant from the Max and Marian Farash Charitable Foundation.

 

Beth Adams joined WXXI as host of Morning Edition in 2012 after a more than two-decade radio career. She was the longtime host of the WHAM Morning News in Rochester. Her career also took her from radio stations in Elmira, New York, to Miami, Florida.