Robin Bullock and Sue Richards. Photo by Jeff Miller
Musicians Sue Richards and Robin Bullock have known each other for years, but it was not until they both moved, separately and coincidentally, to Western North Carolina from the D.C. area that they decided to sit down together with their respective instruments and similar repertoires to see what would happen. Magic, apparently.
On Saturday, September 22, at 7:30 p.m., Bullock, an acclaimed guitarist, and Richards, an award-winning Celtic harpist, team up for a night of jigs, reels, original compositions and ancient tunes at the Black Mountain Center for the Arts (BMCA).
“It’s been way beyond what either of us expected,” says the multi-instrumentalist Bullock who spends many months on the road touring with his solo show and collaborating with a wide range of musical luminaries including Steve Baughman, Aoife Clancy, Tom Paxton and Janis Ian. He is a veteran of the Swannanoa Gathering and A Swannanoa Solstice and has recorded dozens of albums. “We knew going in that our individual styles would blend well and that we had a lot of shared repertoire from Scottish and Irish traditions, but the sound of our instruments intertwining and the depth of emotion we’re able to explore together have been a beautiful discovery.”
Richards agrees. “It has been so smooth and easy. We share a common repertoire and he loves O’Carolan tunes (prolific blind Irish harper Turlough O’Carolan who died in 1738), which are my specialty.” The soft-spoken Richards is a four-time National Scottish Harp Champion who has played for past presidents and Queen Elizabeth, sat in with the Chieftains, appeared on Prairie Home Companion, recorded dozens of award-winning albums and is a founding member of Ensemble Galilei. Her humble manner belies her international reputation. When she is not on the road, she teaches harp lessons at BMCA. The duo is working on recording a CD that they hope will be released before Christmas. “Some of Robin’s original compositions are almost as good as mine!” Richards says with a wry smile.
Both artists love the intimacy and acoustics the BMCA theater offers, a space each has played many times, but never together. The set list for the evening should take the audience on a journey through up-tempo spirited pieces and slower tunes of which Bullock says, “Our greatest strength, given our instrumentation, seems to be the more evocative side of Celtic tradition—these tunes that are several hundred years old yet still have all their power to transport the listener to other realms and even dreamscapes.”
Also in September: The Upper Gallery at BMCA features the multilayered photographic constructions of photographer Lynette Miller in a show titled Lux and Lumen. The show opens Friday, September 7, with a reception from 6-8 p.m., and runs through October 5.
The Black Mountain Center for the Arts is located at 225 West State Street in Black Mountain. Tickets for Robin Bullock and Sue Richards are $20. The Upper Gallery is free to the public and open Monday through Friday 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. For more information, call 828.669.0930 or visit blackmountainarts.org.
