Muhlenberg County Public Libraries has some exciting programs coming up!
The library system has scheduled several upcoming speakers and performances through a grant from the Felix Martin, Jr. Foundation. The first of these performances will take place next week.
Greg Breeding and Martin Harley, as the country music duo the Carlisle Brothers, will visit Muhlenberg County for a Chautauqua performance on September 24 at 7 p.m. This event will take place at Muhlenberg County Public Libraries’ Thistle Cottage branch.
The Carlisle Brothers – Clifford and his younger brother Bill – were born in Wakefield, Ky., near Louisville. The brothers were “pioneers of early country music,” as described in the Kentucky Chautauqua character directory for 2015-16. They began performing on Louisville radio in the 1930s, then signed with Decca Records and eventually became the stars of two barn-dance programs. They had a major hit with “Rainbow at Midnight” in 1946.
Clifford Carlisle wrote more than 300 songs before he retired from the spotlight, and Bill Carlisle had several solo hits after his older brother retired. Bill became a member of the Grand Ole Opry in 1953 and was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 2002.
This event is only the first of four scheduled for the coming months. Storyteller Kathleen Driskell will present “Next Door to the Dead” on Oct. 22 at 7 p.m. Driskell is a professor of creative writing at Spalding University in Louisville. Then, in the spring, the library will host two more Chautauqua performances: Anne Shelby as songwriter Aunt Molly Jackson (Mar. 3, 2016) and Kevin Hardesty as Confederate President Jefferson Davis (Apr. 7, 2016).
Kentucky Chautauqua is a Kentucky Humanities Council program.
All of these events are free and open to the public, and all will take place at Thistle Cottage. For more information, call 270-338-4760.
