Music from Home is an exciting musical performance written and performed by Roadside Theater veteran Ron Short. The production features powerful vocal renditions of original songs — sometimes sung a cappella; sometimes accompanied by banjo, guitar, fiddle, and accordion; always inspired by the Appalachian Mountain traditions in which the author/composer was born and raised. Woven through the musical score is a narrative of plain spoken poems and biting commentary about life and love.

Appalachian music isn’t as homogeneous as some would have us believe. Based on Scots-Irish ballads and fiddle tunes, mountain music was changed and molded by generations of eastern and southern European immigrants and African Americans who came to the mountains in the 20th century looking for work in the coalmines. And in the second half of the century, radio brought every kind of music imaginable into the mountains.

Short absorbed it all — the slide guitar phrasings of Mississippi blues; the power of a cappella Old Regular Baptist, lined-out hymns; the spirit of the conjunto sounds of Texas; the youthful energy of rock ‘n roll; and the timelessness of the Scots-Irish fiddle tunes and frailed banjo styles of central Appalachia.

Short’s generous performance, versatile musicianship, and soaring voice combine with a compelling script to make Music from Home a surprising evening of live performance that is musically fresh, entertaining, and, finally, moving.

Music from Home sample press release

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Book Music from Home

Listen to musical excerpts from Music From Home:

1. The Cumberland Land
2. It Don't Hurt to Have a Dog
3. The Pilot
4. Willie & Sarah

streaming audio courtesy of
Streaming Culture