'Summer Sounds of the Shore' Concert at SU Benefits SWAC July 6

Randy Lee Ashcraft and the Saltwater Cowboys	Chris English	Ted Nichols

SALISBURY, MD---From the uplifting medleys of beach country to the lowdown sound of the Delta blues to the staccato rhythm of African percussion, local musicians take listeners on a musical journey during “Summer Sounds of the Shore.”

The concert, benefiting the Salisbury Wicomico Arts Council (SWAC), is 7:30 p.m. Friday, July 6, in Salisbury University’s Holloway Hall Auditorium. The show is presented as part of SU’s Maryland Summer Center for the Arts, a two-week residential program for middle and high school students throughout the state.

Performers include Randy Lee Ashcraft and the Saltwater Cowboys, the blues-based Chris English Band and percussionist Ted Nichols.

Ashcraft has performed throughout the country for more than two decades, opening for national acts including Toby Keith, Joe Diffe, Colin Raye, Lonestar, Cherie Austin, Travis Tritt, Phil Vassar, Aaron Tippin and Sawyer Brown. A winner of the Jimmy Dean/True Value Country Music Showdown and the Independent Music World Series, he has produced five albums and sold more than 20,000 copies in the United States and Europe.

English offers a combination of deep traditional blues and solid original material. Delta blues is his forte, singing, playing guitar and harp, stamping out the time on an old wooden Coca-Cola crate. He uses vintage guitars from the 1920s and ’30s to replicate the sound and feeling of the blues he has studied and loves. He has released 3 CDs and is a faculty member in SU’s Department of Music, teaching a course that he created: “Blues: The Roots Of Rock and Roll.”

Nichols, also faculty in SU’s Department of Music, has performed with groups throughout the United States, including contemporary Christian artist Paul Lewis. He has studied traditional percussion instruments in West Africa, and his repertoire includes African, Japanese and Latin rhythms. Locally, he has performed with the Easton Choral Society, Salisbury Community Players, Salisbury Symphony Orchestra and Mid-Atlantic Symphony.

Admission is $12, $11 for SWAC members, $9 for seniors, $5 for students with ID and children. Tickets are available at the SWAC office, 104A Poplar Hill Ave., and at area Bank of Delmarva branches.

The concert is funded through SWAC’s Nancy and Robert Allen Endowment for music education. To reserve tickets or for more information call 410-543-ARTS or visit SWAC’s Web site at www.GetSWAC.org.

For more information on the Summer Center for the Arts, call 410-548-4777, ext. 2, or visit the center’s Web site at www.salisbury.edu/msca.