MUSIC

Salem-based musicians and historians, Jim and Maggi Dalton, will perform "The Civil War: From Cause to Cost" a musical/historical program, on Oct. 8, 2009, 7 p.m. complementing the exhibit "In These Imperiled Times: The Civil War Correspondence of the Men of South Danvers" which is currently open to the public at the Sutton Room, Peabody Institute Library, Peabody, Mass.

For directions and information: http://www.peabodylibrary.org/history/events.html, or contact Nancy Barthelemy, Archivist (978) 531-0100 x34; email: barthele@noblenet.org

The Daltons' program is free and open to the public.

The exhibit of letters written by South Danvers soldiers during the Civil War, opened Sept. 24, 2009 and will continue through October. The exhibit will be available for public viewing during the normal hours of the Library. The Daltons' performance is part of a lecture series associated with the show.

This program is funded in part by Mass Humanities, which receives support from the Massachusetts Cultural Council and is an affiliate of the National Endowment for the Humanities.

Previous audiences found the couple to be "engaging, scholarly, delightful, warm, intelligent, flexible, humorous, talented, versatile, enthusiastic, personable, joyful."

The couple specializes in 19th- and 20th-century music, history, and culture from parlor and stage, focusing largely on American, Celtic and British Isles traditions.

The Calvin Coolidge Historical Site/Plymouth Folk & Blues Concerts stated, "Simply put, Jim and Maggi Dalton are a national treasure."

The Daltons have toured nationwide and have been featured often on commercial and NPR public radio, on television and in major-market newspapers and magazines. More information may be found on their Website: singingstring.org. Praised as "extraordinarily versatile," their performances feature repertoire drawn from the Middle Ages to contemporary music; and popular traditions including blues, jazz and TPA/Great American Songbook programs.

They specialize in 19th- and 20th-century American and Celtic music, history and culture from parlor and stage.

The Daltons have released two recordings and compose and perform original material. They have designed a full spectrum of programs which they have performed throughout the United States, appearing at nationally-known historic sites such as Colonial Williamsburg; at colleges, in concert series, at festivals, at historical societies, for organizations of every description.

Performances feature voices and instruments, appropriate to the program, that may include piano, guitar, mandolin, banjo, lute, and bouzouki. Jim Dalton endorses and plays The Phoenix Neoclassical mandolin, which is made in Maine, and is the author of "Mandolin for Beginners," published by Alfred/Workshop Arts.

As artists-in-residence at various community and educational centers, they have presented series which address American history and various other topics in the humanities, using music as the core of each session.

Massachusetts Cultural Council Creative Teaching Partners artists, and members of the New England Foundation for the Arts (NEFA) New England States Touring program, the Daltons are also owners of Singing String Music (singingstring.org).

The Daltons are founders of the scholarly nonprofit Institute for Music, History, and Cultural Traditions, Inc. (imhct.org) and founders/artistic directors of the American History and Music Project ™ (americanhistoryandmusicproject.org)

They are also authors of "The Measure of the Year: Singing Through the Seasons."