On the eve of the closing of his current exhibition, join Eric Wright as he digs into the pop-cultural stew that is Country Music. Followed by discussion and an informal screening of 1971 electric Western film ‘Zahariah’.
Doors: 7:00pm
Free entry I The talk will be live-streamed via Horse Hospital’s Instagram
Scheduled to coincide with the closing of Eric Wright’s exhibition at The Horse Hospital, Ohio Lands: Heap of Testimony (last day 9th October!)
Eric’s audio-visual presentation will trace the surprising roots of two of the genre’s enduring constructs: the blue yodel and the “western” part of country and western music. Find out how ill-connected and short-lived popular trends came together in an industry that was born from the ashes of a rapidly declining theatrical tradition. Both technological advances and societal evolution shaped the course of what many consider the traditional music of America. But what is tradition in America? It may be very different than what you expect.
After the talk, there will be an informal screening of the 1971 film ‘Zahariah’, billed as the first electric western. A young Don Johnson leads a cast of contemporary rock acts as they navigate a surreal story line of gun-slinging adventures peppered with performances by Country Joe and the Fish, The James Gang, the great drummer Elvin Jones and more.
[ID: Image shows two scanned documents against a white background. Both are clearly archival - the paper is yellowed. One is a black and white printed pamphlet containing sheet music for a song titled ‘The Old Granite State’ - its cover shows three men and a woman in 19th century dress. The second is in colour. Large yellow letters spell out across the page, ‘The Virginian’. Behind the text is a heterosexual couple embracing and gazing at us. Below them a team of cowboys gallop on horseback across a dusty plain.]