Duke Arts and Country Soul Songbook are excited to share the lineup for Music in the Gardens 2024! This free concert series will be held outdoors at Sarah P. Duke Gardens each Wednesday from May 29 through June 26. This year’s lineup features performances by a diverse range of innovative artists changing the face of American roots music.
Reservations open Tue, May 21 at 11 a.m.
Blue Cactus, Kym Register and Kamara Thomas trace their country-rock lineages, paying tribute to rock inventors Sister Rosetta Tharpe and Link Wray, and exploring the legacies of Linda Ronstadt and Rodriguez– two Mexican Americans whose music careers found very different trajectories in the rock milieu of the late 60s and 70s.
Reservations open Tue, May 28 at 11 a.m.
Lumbee-Tuscarora singer-songwriter Charly Lowry, along with special guests Mark McKinney & Co. and Rob Cole, plays her electrifying originals and explores indigenous contributions to the roots music landscape by paying tribute to legendary Lumbee musician Willie French Lowery and the iconic Redbone.
Reservations open Tue, June 4 at 11 a.m.
Fiddler extraordinaire Brian Farrow, New Orleans-based singer-songwriter Dusky Waters and local musicians Sinclair Palmer and Brevan Hampden cook up an energetically acoustic musical gumbo to pay tribute to Nina Simone and New Orleans guitar and violin pioneer Lonnie Johnson.
Reservations open Tue, June 11 at 11 a.m.
In this Juneteenth concert, Kyshona, Grace Givertz and front line activist Sam Rise sing the music of freedom movements and pay tribute to the storytelling, oral traditions and sonic contributions of the seminal Elizabeth Cotten, roots chameleon Ruthie Foster and civil rights icons Odetta, Sweet Honey in the Rock, Toshi Reagon and Bernice Johnson Reagon.
Reservations open Tue, June 18 at 11 a.m.
Truth-telling poetry and modern blues unite as North and South Carolina natives Adia Victoria and Shirlette Ammons collaborate to explore emergent sounds, blur genre lines and redefine southern music.
Music in the Gardens concerts take place on the lawn behind the Doris Duke Center. Lawn chairs, picnics, and blankets are encouraged. Pets are not allowed. Outside food and beverages, including beer and wine, are permitted and will also be available for purchase on-site from The Palace International. The lawn will open at 6 p.m. before each concert. University parking at the Gardens is $2/hour until 7 p.m. In the event of rain, concerts will take place at Baldwin Auditorium on Duke’s East Campus. Location changes will be announced by 1 p.m. on the day of the event.
Digital reservations are highly recommended and will be made available at dukearts.org on Tuesdays at 11 a.m. one week prior to each performance date. The exact on-sale dates are listed above alongside each concert. We will also accept walk-ups on the day of each event on a first-come, first-served basis until the event has reached capacity.
For the first time in the history of Music in the Gardens, all five concerts will be broadcast live on WXDU 88.7 FM, Duke University Radio, allowing audiences to tune in live from anywhere in Durham or online at wxdu.org.
Music in the Gardens is presented by Duke Arts in partnership with Sarah P. Duke Gardens and Country Soul Songbook, with support from WXDU and Duke Summer Session.
