June 26, 2024
Sarah P. Duke Gardens
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.
Tributing: Gladys Bentley
Food Partner: FARM AID
The 2024 Music in the Gardens series is presented in partnership with Country Soul Songbook (CSSB).
Southern blues rocker, Adia Victoria is a daughter of the South, a born and bred South Carolinian who now makes her home outside of Nashville, Tennessee. It is no surprise, then, that stories of the South find their way into her music, into the lyrics she pens and the chords she plays.
2023 finds Adia writing her next album, with appearances scheduled at the Cayamo Cruise, Winnipeg Folk Fest, Catbird Music Festival, Park City Song Summit and more. Read Adia Victoria’s full bio here.
Shirlette Ammons is a Black queer southern truth teller, an Emmy and Peabody award-winning TV producer, poet, and musician. She is also an identical twin who hails from a tiny, wonderfully-named pocket of eastern North Carolina earth called Beautancus.
Given this wild set of identifiers, the thought of being someone else’s “spectacle” is not some theoretical consideration for shirlette; she has been “othered” her entire life. Her new album Spectacles, co–produced with Phil Cook, is a captivating and electric 11-track examination of the duality between being objectified by the proverbial, patriarchal, white gaze and cultivating attention when rocking stages. Read shirlette ammons full bio here.
High temperatures are expected for this final concert. We will be opening doors at 6:30 p.m. instead of our usual 6 p.m. to reduce time outside. Free hand fans are available and water stations will be set up around the lawn to help you stay cool.
Learn more about ways to stay cool in extreme heat here.
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. 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.
This concert will be broadcast live on WXDU 88.7 FM, Duke University Radio! Tune in live from anywhere in Durham or online at wxdu.org.
SOLD OUT
Sarah P. Duke Gardens
420 Anderson Street
Durham, NC 27708
Reservations available Tuesday, June 18 at 11 a.m.
General Admission; Reservations are limited to 4, with an option to add ‘youth’ tickets for children 10 and under.
2024 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.