Editors: Photographs of musicians are available in print and digital versions by calling (303) 492-4007. A complete schedule of events is posted at .
Ramblin' Jack Elliott, Tish Hinojosa and the Hot Club of Cowtown will be among the musicians giving free performances on the lawn of Boulder's historic Chautauqua Park on Saturday, Aug. 12, as part of a conference titled "Listening to the West: Music in the Soul of a Region."
The conference and music festival celebrating the cultural diversity of the American West through its music will be offered Aug. 10-13 by the Center of the American West at the University of Colorado at Boulder.
"It's a wonderful thing to learn while your toes are tapping at the same time," said Patricia Nelson Limerick, CU-Boulder history professor and chair of the Center of the American West. "It rarely happens in the lecture hall."
Other musicians performing at Chautauqua Park from 11 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. will include Antonia Apodaca, Calvin Standing Bear, Santiago Jimenez, Jesus "Chuy" Martinez and Brenda Romero. On Sunday, July 13, the Heavenly Echoes and the Praze Band with the Victory Voices will perform gospel music at Chautauqua Park from 10 a.m. to noon.
The complete CU-Boulder conference will run Aug. 10-13 and will include panel discussions on such topics as "Music as the Best Route to Understanding the West," "Cultural Interweaving" and "Westerness as Freedom and Limit." The complete conference is $99 and the public is encouraged to attend.
Discussants will include Limerick; Nick Forster of the national "e-town" radio show; musicologists Thomas Riis and Brenda Romero of the CU-Boulder College of Music; David Wrobel, a historian with expertise on American pop music; and Jose Limon, a professor of English, Mexican-American studies, and anthropology at the University of Texas at Austin.
"Of all forms of human expression, music ranks at the top when it comes to crossing cultural borders and bridging human divisions," Limerick said. "Music really does get past people's defenses in a way that the written word may not."
Through engaging lectures, panel discussions and musical performances, the conference will address the musical traditions of American Indians, Hispanics, African Americans, cowboys, miners, laborers and protesters. The conference will address how music reflects and distills the essence of different cultures and how different musical styles have been borrowed and blended.
"The friction and violence in the West are undeniable but the fact is that we have spent a lot of time listening to each other," Limerick said. "The blending of a German accordion into Mexican border music is one example showing there is no particular ethnic membership requirement to enjoy any particular type of music."
In "Songs That Capture the West," all panelists and attendees are invited to bring a recorded song to play or to perform live which for them captures a unique spirit of feeling about the West.
In conjunction with the conference, the "e-town" radio show will be taped at Chautauqua Auditorium on Saturday, Aug. 12, at 7:30 p.m. Tickets are $11.
The conference and festival is presented by the Scripps Howard Foundation and the Daily Camera. Additional sponsors include e-town, Colorado Chautauqua Association, Swallow Hill Music Association and CU-Boulder's American Music Research Center.
The music festival at Chautauqua Park is free and open to the public.
Conference participants can receive one academic credit from CU-Boulder's Division of Continuing Education for an additional $45. To register call Riis at (303) 492-7540.
For more information contact the Center of the American West at (303) 735-3261, email musicwest@spot.colorado.edu or visit the center's Web site at . A complete schedule of events is posted on the center's Web site.