IN PARTNERSHIP WITH THE CARNEGIE

CAC COMMISSION

WORLD PREMIERE

Kentucky native Jay Bolotin is a renaissance artist; a maker equally at home crafting outlaw country music and stories as he is creating otherworldly creatures carved from woodblocks, then masterfully animating them into being. In The Darktown Sermons, live song and animation share the stage. A somewhat confused Preacher (voice of Will Oldham, aka Bonnie Prince Billy) descends a ladder from heaven where he visited the angels. They were not what he expected. Back on earth, he seems suddenly able to hear and see where song comes from. A cast of earthly characters inhabit his sermons, including Raggedy Man and Fay (both played live by Ali Edwards of the band, Ruby Vileos).

Bolotin’s songs have been admired and sometimes recorded bymany including Porter Wagoner, David Allen Coe, Merle Haggard, and Kris Kristofferson. Bolotin’s recent animation, “The Silence of Professor Tösla,” a collaboration with the celebrated Mexican essayist Ilan Stavans, has won many awards including Best Animation at the Prague Independent Film Festival.

“Jay Bolotin’s songs live in the shadows…possessing an almost gothic air…it’s easy to hear why Music City luminaries lauded the Kentucky native’s work.” – The Aquarium Drunkard

Location: The Carnegie

Duration: 60 mins

Time: APRIL 6 – 7 / 7:30PM

Concept, text, composition, animation, and performance: Jay Bolotin

Performer: Ali Edwards

The Darktown Sermons is commissioned by The Carnegie (Covington) and Contemporary Arts Center