Appalachia in the Bluegrass series: Zoe Speaks

The band Zoe Speaks consists of Kentuckians Mitch Barrett and Carla Gover, their daughter, fiddler/bassist/vocalist Zoey Barrett, and her multi-instrumentalist husband Arlo Barnette, and joined on select dates by longtime bassist Owen Reynolds. They're a band who draws on their deep roots in the region to put their own spin on everything from traditional ballads to finely-crafted originals. Close family harmonies are a defining feature of their sound, and while their music is drenched in the flavor of the mountain music they grew up with, they skirt the cutting edge of tradition. Their music follows in the tracks of socially conscious writers like Jean Ritchie and John Prine, with a distinctly progressive bent.

Concerts presented as part of Appalachia in the Bluegrass are free and open to the public and begin weekly at noon on Fridays, in the Niles Gallery of the John Jacob Niles Center for American Music, located at the University of Kentucky’s Lucille C. Little Fine Arts and Design Library.

An annual series, Appalachia in the Bluegrass celebrates the old-time roots of American folk music, while simultaneously representing a variety of different musical expressions, featuring performances by noted Appalachian soloists, duos and groups. The Appalachia in the Bluegrass concert series is sponsored by the John Jacob Niles Center for American Music, the Appalachian Studies Program, and the Appalachian Center of the University of Kentucky.