Young roots music sensation Mipso returns to Salisbury for a concert in Catawba College's Hedrick Little Theatre on Saturday evening, August 31. The college's own Catawba Roots will open the show with an encore performance of selections from the "O Brother, Where Art Thou" soundtrack. The special two-fer concert begins at 8:00 p.m., and tickets will be available at the door the evening of the show. Admission is $12 for the general public and $7 for Catawba College students and employees.
Rooted in the music of North Carolina's mountains and Piedmont, Chapel Hill-based Mipso gives these traditional influences a distinctly modern twist. With an old-school combination of mandolin, bass, guitar, and a few voices in close harmony, Mipso's Jacob, Wood, and Joseph mix bluegrass ingredients with a healthy dose of 21st century energy.
Over the past two years Mipso has released an EP and a full-length album titled "Long, Long Gone" and performed to enthusiastic crowds across North Carolina, from Asheville to Greenville and many places in between. This year alone, they've performed sold out concerts at Carrboro's historic Cat's Cradle three times, solidifying their place as one of the most promising young bands to come out of UNC in a long, long time. The group graduated from UNC in 2013 and is now taking it to the road full-time and have just returned from a tour of Japan and China.
Area fans of Mipso remember their standing-room-only performance at the Looking Glass Artists Center last February in downtown Salisbury. "They raised the rafters of the center's black box theater that night. We may want to call in a structural engineer after the upcoming show to make sure Hedrick Theatre survived," quips Brien Lewis. Lewis is not only president of Catawba College, but also a big fan of Mipso.
The Catawba Roots ensemble is part of the popular music degree program at Catawba College in Salisbury, NC. Catawba is one of only about a dozen four-year colleges and universities in the country to offer a curriculum designed especially for students of popular music. It draws talented students from across the country. Five have won John Lennon Songwriting scholarships, a better result than any other school in a national competition that draws thousands of entries each year. Such achievements have helped Catawba emerge as America's Rock U.
Catawba Roots has quickly gained popularity both on and off the college campus for its Appalachian-influenced music fused with modern, creative elements. A performance may find them heating up the room with a foot-stomping old-time standard or bringing mountain-music flavor to a pop hit like "Pumped Up Kicks" by Foster the People. Leading Appalachian musician Jeff Little directs the group.
"We're delighted to host Mipso's performance at Catawba," says Dr. David Lee Fish, chair of the college's
Music Department. "Mipso and Catawba College are kindred spirits musically. It'll be wonderful inspiration for our students to rub shoulders musically with the talented young artists in Mipso. It's also going to be a great evening of music for the public."
For more information about the upcoming Mipso and Catawba Roots concert, contact Dr. David Lee Fish at dlfish@catawba.edu or (704) 637-4280.
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