NPT MUSIC MONTHLY FOR APRIL

Welcome to the April edition of the NPT Music Monthly. One of the many music highlights this month is TONY BENNETT DUETS: THE MAKING OF AN AMERICAN CLASSIC. Born Anthony Dominick Benedetto, the son of a grocer and Italian-born immigrant, Tony Bennett was born on August 3,1926, in the Astoria section of Queens. He idolized Bing Crosby and Nat King Cole. He sang while waiting tables as a teenager, later performing with military bands during his Army enlistment in World War II.

According to his bio, his big break came in 1949 when comedian Bob Hope noticed him working with Pearl Bailey in Greenwich Village in New York City. As Bennett recalls, “Bob Hope came down to check out my act. He liked my singing so much that after the show he came back to see me in my dressing room and said, ‘Come on kid, you’re going to come to the Paramount and sing with me.’ But first he told me he didn’t care for my stage name (Joe Bari) and asked me what my real name was. I told him, ‘My name is Anthony Dominick Benedetto,’ and he said, ‘We’ll call you Tony Bennett.’ And that’s how it happened. A new Americanized name, the start of a wonderful career and a glorious adventure that has continued for fifty years.”

Tony Bennett turned 80 in 2006. To celebrate his birthday, he went into the studio with some of today’s biggest stars – and his friends – including Elton John, Bono, Barbra Streisand, Stevie Wonder, Sting, the Dixie Chicks, and others to record his acclaimed 2006 album, Duets – An American Classic. TONY BENNETT DUETS: THE MAKING OF AN AMERICAN CLASSIC, premiering on Thursday April 26, is a behind-the-scenes look at the making of the landmark album and the career of one of the greatest singers in the history of popular music.

On Saturday, April 21, don’t miss Nashville’s own John Prine, a true national treasure, on Austin City Limits. In 2005, he joined Poet Laureate Ted Kooser for a special “Literary Evening,” becoming the first singer-songwriter to play at the Library of Congress. You can watch a webcast of it at the Library of Congress website. Kooser’s eloquent introduction will give you pause.

Let’s get to the list and another great month of music programming on Nashville Public Television.

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Wednesday April 4, 2007
7:00-8:00
In Performance at the White House: Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz
Hosted by Barbara Walters, this program includes performances by the Thelonius Monk Institute ensemble, Anita Baker, Nnenna Freelon, Clark Terry, Lisa Henry and Bobby Watson.

Thursday, April 5, 2007
9:00-10:30
A Wayfarer’s Journey: Listening to Mahler
This past January, the Cleveland Symphony brought the crowd at Schermerhorn Symphony Center in Nashville to its feet with its performance of composer Gustav Mahler’s Symphony No. 1 in D Major “Titan.” In this television special, the exploration of the critical relationship of music, healing and survival centers on the music Mahler (1860-1911). Christoph Eschenbach, music director of the Philadelphia Orchestra, reveals that music helped him recover from the trauma of World War II; Dr. Richard J. O’Reilly of Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center details how Mahler’s work is being used as part of an innovative therapy to help patients and families learn to heal and hope; and Dr. Balfour Mount, who coined the term “palliative care,” discloses how music gives him courage as he battles his own cancer. Eschenbach conducts students from the Curtis Institute of Music in Mahler’s First Symphony. Actor Richard Dreyfuss provides the voice of Mahler and actress Kathleen Chalfant narrates.

Friday, April 6, 2007
11:00-12:00
Music Farmers
MUSIC FARMERS chronicles the events of two music festivals that take place on the banks of the Suwannee River – the Suwannee SpringFest held in March and the MagnoliaFest held in October. Filmed entirely in HD, MUSIC FARMERS follows the community and friendships that are formed when an eclectic group of people head into the woods to celebrate music. This documentary features interviews with the musicians and festival-goers as well as performances by Béla Fleck, Laura Love, Donna the Buffalo, The Waybacks, The Duhks and many others.

Saturday, April 7, 2007
10:00-11:00
Austin City Limits: Elvis Costello
From rockin’ punk to heartbreaking ballads, Elvis Costello’s musical diversity runs parallel with that of AUSTIN CITY LIMITS. Showcasing his intelligent lyrics and genre-jumping style, Costello and the Imposters perform songs from The Delivery Man, plus a few classics.

Thursday, April 12, 2007
11:00 p.m.-12 a.m.
Confluence: A Duet of Words and Music
Shot before a live studio audience and in the foothills of the Bridger Mountains, classical guitarist Stuart Weber and writer Alan Kesselheim join together for this unique concert that combines their individual arts. Drawing from their western roots and wilderness experience, the two artists weave a tapestry of images and music that evoke in the listener the current of great rivers, the exhilaration of wind-buffeted peaks and the quiet awe of a moonless prairie night.

Friday, April 13, 2007
11:00 p.m.-12:00 a.m.
Tough It Out! Webb Wilder Live
Tough It Out! is the definitive concert of Nashville-based Webb Wilder — the man, the legend and the electrifying artist. Recorded in August 2005 at WorkPlay in Birmingham, Alabama, in front of a very enthusiastic audience, Tough It Out! captures all of the excitement of Wilder’s action-packed shows, which the Birmingham News called, “A vigorous hybrid of rollicking rockabilly, toe-tapping twang and rip-roaring rock ‘n’ roll.”

Saturday, April 14, 2007
10:00-11:00
Austin City Limits : John Fogerty
John Fogerty tore it up like someone half his age fronting a punk rock band when he came to Starwood Ampitheater last fall to split a double bill with Willie Nelson. He now makes a rare television appearance to honor the 30th season of AUSTIN CITY LIMITS, playing hits from his Creedence Clearwater Revival days and his own solo records, including 2004’s Deja Vu All Over Again.

Saturday, April 21, 2007
10:00-11:00
Austin City Limits: John Prine / Amos Lee
Nashville’s own John Prine is in top form these days. Joined by long-time bandmates, and fellow Nashvillians, Dave Jacques and Jason Wilber, highlights include songs from his 2006 Grammy-Award winning CD Fair&Square, plus several Prine classics. Amos Lee melds folk and soul into a unique, engaging song-poetry that is rooted in American tradition. Lee performs songs from his self-titled debut release. including the affecting single “Keep It Loose, Keep It Tight.”

Monday, April 23, 2007
8:00-9:00
American Experience: Summer of Love
In the summer of 1967, thousands of young people from across the country flocked to San Francisco’s Haight-Ashbury district to join in the hippie experience, only to discover that what they had come for was already disappearing. By 1968 the celebration of free love, music and an alternative lifestyle had descended into a maelstrom of drug abuse, broken dreams and occasional violence. Through interviews with a broad range of individuals, this presentation offers a complex portrait of the notorious event that many consider the peak of the 1960s counter-culture movement.

Thursday, April 26, 2007
8:30-10:00
Tony Bennett Duets: The Making of an American Classic
TONY BENNETT DUETS: THE MAKING OF AN AMERICAN CLASSIC goes into the studio for a behind-the-scenes look at the making of Tony Bennett’s acclaimed 2006 album, Duets – An American Classic, that found the singer recording many of his biggest hits and favorite songs – live in the studio with some of today’s biggest stars. Elton John, Bono, Barbra Streisand, Stevie Wonder, Sting, the Dixie Chicks, and others participate in this musical celebration of Bennett’s 80th birthday.

Friday, April 27, 2007
11:00-12:30
Tony Bennett Duets: The Making of an American Classic
See Thursday, April 26

Saturday, April 28, 2007
8:00-10:30
Moments to Remember (My Music #204)
Patti Page, Nick Clooney, Peter Marshall, Wink Martindale and the Lawrence Welk Show’s Mary Lou Metzger co-host all new performances and archival classics from the late 1950s and early 60s pop era.

10:30 p.m.-1:00 a.m.
Doo Wop Cavalcade: The Definitive Anthology (My Music #203)
Hosts Jerry Butler, Johnny Maestro (of Brooklyn Bridge fame), and Alan Freed (in archival clips) present hits by favorite doo wop stars, mixing new performances with classic gems from the vaults.

As always, you can find our full schedule online at http://www.wnpt.net/schedule.html.