Sparky and Rhonda Rucker
For the Ten Pound Fiddle's 50th Anniversary season, Sparky and Rhonda are the perfect act to highlight the roots of folk music. It has been too long since this duo has graced the Fiddle stage; the Fiddle is delighted that they can be part of this year's schedule. Sparky and Rhonda Rucker deliver uplifting presentations of toe-tapping songs spiced with humor, history, and tall tales. Their music includes a variety of old-time blues, Appalachian music, slave songs, and spirituals as well as originals, and they accompany themselves with fingerstyle picking and bottleneck blues guitar, old-time banjo, blues harmonica, piano, spoons, and bones.
“Sparky Rucker is unique! He’ll make you glad to be alive and struggling.”
~ PETE SEEGER
“It’s an absolute must to see Sparky in concert!”
~ U. UTAH PHILLIPS
Sparky and Rhonda Rucker deliver an uplifting presentation of toe-tapping songs spiced with humor, history, and tall tales. Their music includes old-time blues, Appalachian music, slave songs, spirituals, and originals, and they accompany themselves with fingerstyle picking and bottleneck blues guitar, old-time banjo, blues harmonica, piano, spoons, and bones.
The Ruckers are known for weaving American history and traditional storytelling into their concerts, and they have been featured tellers at the International Storytelling Center and Festival. In 2022, Sparky received the Black Appalachian Storytellers Fellowship, an award recognizing his lifetime contribution to art, history, and culture. Rhonda’s most recent novel, Welcome to Bombingham, is set against the backdrop of the Birmingham Children’s March during the civil rights movement.
Over decades of performing, Sparky and Rhonda have performed at the Kennedy Center, the Smithsonian Folklife Festival, and the International Storytelling Center, as well as NPR’s On Point, Prairie Home Companion, Mountain Stage, and Morning Edition. Their CD, Treasures & Tears, was nominated for a W.C. Handy Award, and their music is on the Grammy-nominated anthology, Singing Through the Hard Times. The duo’s most recent recording is Down by the Riverside.
http://www.sparkyandrhonda.com/
Reuben’s Train” from the Big Muddy Festival in Boonville, MO
“We Shall Not Be Moved” from the Mystic Sea Music Festival in Mystic, CT
“Sparky Rucker is unique! He’ll make you glad to be alive and struggling.”
~ PETE SEEGER
“It’s an absolute must to see Sparky in concert!”
~ U. UTAH PHILLIPS
Sparky and Rhonda Rucker deliver an uplifting presentation of toe-tapping songs spiced with humor, history, and tall tales. Their music includes old-time blues, Appalachian music, slave songs, spirituals, and originals, and they accompany themselves with fingerstyle picking and bottleneck blues guitar, old-time banjo, blues harmonica, piano, spoons, and bones.
The Ruckers are known for weaving American history and traditional storytelling into their concerts, and they have been featured tellers at the International Storytelling Center and Festival. In 2022, Sparky received the Black Appalachian Storytellers Fellowship, an award recognizing his lifetime contribution to art, history, and culture. Rhonda’s most recent novel, Welcome to Bombingham, is set against the backdrop of the Birmingham Children’s March during the civil rights movement.
Over decades of performing, Sparky and Rhonda have performed at the Kennedy Center, the Smithsonian Folklife Festival, and the International Storytelling Center, as well as NPR’s On Point, Prairie Home Companion, Mountain Stage, and Morning Edition. Their CD, Treasures & Tears, was nominated for a W.C. Handy Award, and their music is on the Grammy-nominated anthology, Singing Through the Hard Times. The duo’s most recent recording is Down by the Riverside.
http://www.sparkyandrhonda.com/
Reuben’s Train” from the Big Muddy Festival in Boonville, MO
“We Shall Not Be Moved” from the Mystic Sea Music Festival in Mystic, CT