The Barns of Rose Hill is thrilled to partner with 1455 Literary Arts for a special reading with Sean Murphy, who will read from his new collection The Blackened Blues, accompanied by pianist Quentin Walston.
The Blackened Blues, which Dr. Cornel West has called “a powerful and beautiful collection of poems,” is a searing and timely take on American culture that finds perspective on the present by interrogating our past. These poems are part of a large and ongoing project that discusses (and celebrates) some of the author’s personal heroes who remain far less celebrated than they deserve to be. As it happens, many of them are musicians, hampered in various ways by discrimination, ranging from old fashioned racism to institutional and cultural indifference. Though there’s an elegiac sadness suffusing this collection, there’s also acknowledgment of defiant genius: they fought their battles bravely, in their art and in their lives. The Blackened Blues seeks to capture something (or, hopefully, more than a few things) essential about their lives, bearing witness while also paying homage. More info and blurbs via Finishing Line Press
Purchase The Blackened Blues
Event Details
Join us in person at the Barns of Rose Hill
95 Chalmers Ct, Berryville, VA 22611
Doors open at 7:00 and show starts at 8:00 PM
Tickets
All Tickets are General Admission
- $10 in advance until Noon on the day of event
- $15 at the door
- Children: 12 years and below are free when accompanied by an adult
Tickets may be purchased in advance either online or by calling the Barns of Rose Hill Box Office at 540-955-2004 (Noon to 3:00 – Tuesday through Saturday). If you call when our Box Office is closed, please leave a message and we’ll return your call within 24 business hours. All sales are final. Exceptions for special circumstances may be made no later than 24 hours prior to performance.
About Sean Murphy
Sean Murphy has been publishing fiction, poetry, reviews (of music, movie, book, food), and essays on the technology industry for more than twenty years. He has appeared on NPR’s All Things Considered and been quoted in USA Today, The New York Times, The Huffington Post, Forbes, and AdAge. A long-time columnist for PopMatters, his work has also appeared in Salon, The Village Voice, Washington City Paper, The Good Men Project, Memoir Magazine, and others. He has been nominated for the Pushcart Prize two times, once for short fiction and once for poetry. His poems have been widely anthologized, including the collections Revisiting the Elegy in the Black Lives Matter Era, This Is What America Looks Like, Lo-Fi Poetry Series: Poet Sounds, and Written in Arlington: Poems for Arlington, VA. Previous publications include the memoir Please Talk about Me When I’m Gone, the novel Not to Mention a Nice Life, and the non-fiction collections Murphy’s Law, Volumes One and Two.
ABOUT QUENTIN WALSTON
Quentin Walston is an active composer, pianist, and music educator in the Washington DC area. He composes for piano and his jazz combo, blending memorable melodies, striking rhythms, and adventurous improvisations. As a music and jazz educator, Quentin shares the joy of learning and playing music to individuals of all ages.
