Nisswa, Minnesota live music: Grassroots Concert Series/ Sparky and Rhonda Rucker

Concerts are held at The Journey Church in Nisswa

The Grassroots Concert Series is providing an event on April 17.  To learn more about this wonderful organization and to see what other artists will be coming to Nisswa, check out more on their website.

Here is more information from the Grassroots website:

In NISSWA - April 17 2015

NISSWA - Sparky and Rhonda Rucker will perform in the Grassroots Concerts series at 7:30 p.m., Friday, April 17 in the Live Well Nightclub and Coffee Bar at the Journey Church, next to the school in Nisswa.

Sparky and Rhonda Rucker travel throughout the U.S. as well as overseas, singing songs and telling stories from the American folk tradition.

Throughout their 40 years of performing, the couple has played for the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., and the Smithsonian Folklife Festival. They have appeared on National Public Radio's "On Point," "A Prairie Home Companion," "Mountain Stage," and "Morning Edition."

Their music, recorded on nine albums of their own, is included in the Grammy-nominated anthology "Singing Through the Hard Times." Their release "Treasures and Tears" was nominated for the W.C. Handy Award for Best Traditional Recording.

They take their audience on an educational and emotional journey that ranges from poignant stories of slavery and war to an amusing rendition of a Brer Rabbit tale or their witty commentaries on current events.

Their music includes a variety of old-time blues, slave songs, Appalachian music, spirituals, ballads, work songs, Civil War music, railroad songs, and a few of their own original compositions.

James "Sparky" Rucker is internationally recognized as a folklorist, musician, historian, storyteller, and author. He accompanies himself with finger-style picking and bottleneck blues guitar, banjo, and spoons.

Rhonda Rucker is a musician, children's author, storyteller, and songwriter. Her blues-style harmonica, piano, old-time banjo, and bones add musical versatility to their performances.

For more about Sparky and Rhonda Rucker go to www.sparkyandrhonda.com

From the Brainerd Dispatch:  Sparky and Rhonda Rucker will perform at 7:30 p.m April 17 in the Grassroots Concerts series in the Live Well Nightclub and Coffee Bar at the Journey Church, next to the school in Nisswa.