Calendar of Events

Laurent Dubois is the first speaker of the UT Humanities Center Sixth Annual Distinguished Lecture Series. He will present “On the Trail of the Banjo: America’s African Instrument.”

What is the banjo? As an iconic American instrument, it has been part of a wide range of musical traditions. In this lecture, renowned historian Laurent Dubois traces the instrument’s origins, focusing on the earliest known descriptions from the 17th and 18th century Caribbean and North America, and offers an explanation for the banjo’s adaptability and enduring power as a creator of both sound and symbolism.

Laurent Dubois is a professor of romance studies and history and the director of the Forum for Scholars & Publics at Duke University. He is the author of six books, including A Colony of Citizens: Revolution and Slave Emancipation in the French Caribbean, 1787-1804 (2004), which won the 2005 Frederick Douglass Prize. His writings on music and culture have appeared in The New Republic, The New Yorker, and Slate.

There will be live music. This event is free and open to the public.
Lindsay Young Auditorium, UT Hodges Library. http://events.utk.edu/index.php?eID=65569

Just like at your favorite meat n’ three, the WDVX Blue Plate Special® is served up piping hot. This fresh and free daily helping of live music during the lunchtime hour that features performers from all over the world and right here in Knoxville has put WDVX on the map as East Tennessee’s Own community supported radio.

The WDVX Blue Plate Special® is a live performance radio show held at noon, with your host Red Hickey Monday through Friday and Doug Lauderdale on Saturday, at the WDVX studio inside the Knoxville Visitor Center. It’s always free to join in so please don’t be shy. Make yourself at home as part of the WDVX family. From blues to bluegrass, country to Celtic, folk to funk, rockabilly to hillbilly, local to international, it all part of the live music experience on the WDVX Blue Plate Special. You’re welcome to bring your lunch.

Previous performing artists include Bela Fleck and the Flecktones, The Avett Brothers, Old Crowe Medicine Show, Doyle Lawson and Quicksilver, Ricky Skaggs and Kentucky Thunder, Jim Lauderdale, Marty Stuart, Nickel Creek, Red Stick Ramblers, Rodney Crowell, String Cheese Incident, The Del McCoury Band, Tim O’Brien, Yonder Mountain String Band, David Grisman, Claire Lynch Band, Brett Dennen, Tommy Emmanuel, Uncle Earl, The Infamous Stringdusters, the Jerry Douglas Band, Joan Osborne, John Oats, Mary Gauthier, Darrell Scott, and many many more! There’s plenty of great music to go around! http://wdvx.com/program/blue-plate-special/

Free 2-hour visitor parking located next door to the Knoxville Visitor Center. One Vision Plaza, 301 S. Gay Street, Knoxville, TN 37902. Info: 865-544-1029, http://www.wdvx.com

Join recently appointed WDVX program director Katie Cauthen for Tennessee Shines Radio Show live at 7pm every Wednesday night from Boyd's Jig & Reel in the Old City. The radio broadcast is 7-8pm, but the live music continues on until 8:30pm at Boyd's.

Upcoming performances:
September 20: Wild Ponies
September 27: Ian Thomas & the Band of Drifters
October 4: Count This Penny

Tickets are $10, $5 with a student ID at the Boyd's Jig and Reel door or on online. For more information visit wdvx.com. Information: 865-544-1029, www.wdvx.com

Just like at your favorite meat n’ three, the WDVX Blue Plate Special® is served up piping hot. This fresh and free daily helping of live music during the lunchtime hour that features performers from all over the world and right here in Knoxville has put WDVX on the map as East Tennessee’s Own community supported radio.

The WDVX Blue Plate Special® is a live performance radio show held at noon, with your host Red Hickey Monday through Friday and Doug Lauderdale on Saturday, at the WDVX studio inside the Knoxville Visitor Center. It’s always free to join in so please don’t be shy. Make yourself at home as part of the WDVX family. From blues to bluegrass, country to Celtic, folk to funk, rockabilly to hillbilly, local to international, it all part of the live music experience on the WDVX Blue Plate Special. You’re welcome to bring your lunch.

Previous performing artists include Bela Fleck and the Flecktones, The Avett Brothers, Old Crowe Medicine Show, Doyle Lawson and Quicksilver, Ricky Skaggs and Kentucky Thunder, Jim Lauderdale, Marty Stuart, Nickel Creek, Red Stick Ramblers, Rodney Crowell, String Cheese Incident, The Del McCoury Band, Tim O’Brien, Yonder Mountain String Band, David Grisman, Claire Lynch Band, Brett Dennen, Tommy Emmanuel, Uncle Earl, The Infamous Stringdusters, the Jerry Douglas Band, Joan Osborne, John Oats, Mary Gauthier, Darrell Scott, and many many more! There’s plenty of great music to go around! http://wdvx.com/program/blue-plate-special/

Free 2-hour visitor parking located next door to the Knoxville Visitor Center. One Vision Plaza, 301 S. Gay Street, Knoxville, TN 37902. Info: 865-544-1029, http://www.wdvx.com

The KSDA hosts weekly Swing dances every Wednesday at the Laurel Theater in Fort Sanders. $3 admission (only $2 for students!) includes an intermediate drop in lesson 7 - 7:30 pm and a beginner drop in lesson 7:30 - 8:15 pm. Open social dancing with our Swing DJs goes from 8:15 - 10:30 pm. No dance experience or partner necessary.

Contact us at: 865-224-6830, swingdanceknoxville@gmail.com, or www.swingknoxville.org, or follow us @KnoxSwingDance

At the Laurel Theater, 1538 Laurel Ave, Knoxville, TN 37916.