See Doug Seegers, country music’s next big star, in concert at Carnegie Hall, WV on Thursday, Oct. 23. The concert will begin at 7:30 p.m. with access to the Mainstage Lounge, hosted by The Irish Pub on Washington Street, beginning at 6:45. Tickets are on sale now by calling 304-645-7917 or online at www.carnegiehallwv.org. Ticket prices for the performance range from $10-$25 with discounts available for members, seniors, students and military. It’s just your typical Music City story. A frequently homeless, 62-year-old singer-songwriter-guitarist gets discovered at a Nashville food pantry by a Swedish country music star, who helps him from the streets of Nashville to superstardom in a country best known for Abba’s “Dancing Queen” and the like. “What’s Abba?” asks Doug Seegers, in a voice free of irony. Seegers isn’t much into pop music. He grew up on the hard country sounds of Hank Williams, and came to adore the heart-first country-rock that Gram Parsons made with the assistance of young harmony vocalist Emmylou Harris. Those influences are present on Seegers’ remarkable debut album, Going Down To The River, a fully realized version of the music he has been making on Nashville streets for decades. Before that, he was making it in New York, Austin and other locales. While “She” and title song “Going Down to the River” carry the most emotional weight, the album includes everything from Texas swing dance-floor gem in “Hard-Working Man” to woe-is-me heartacher in “Pour Me” to shuffling “Baby Lost Her Way Home Again.” Every song on the album would be right at home on nicotine-stained jukeboxes in every roadhouse in America. They also, of course, have helped this hard-timer conquer stages in Sweden, tuning him up for success in his homeland as well. The album was just released on Oct. 7. Don’t miss this must see special performance. As a country music fan, if you’re not yet familiar with the name, you will be. Enjoy the intimate atmosphere of the Hall’s 420 seat auditorium as Seegers takes the stage with his heart-filled music while making his way across the US on tour. Please note, this performance is not part of the 2014-2015 Mainstage Performance Season; therefore, season tickets are not valid for this performance. Carnegie Hall’s 2014-15 arts programming is presented with financial assistance from the WV Division of Culture and History, and the National Endowment for the Arts, with approval from the WV Commission on the Arts.
