Lee Bains III of The Glory Fires will perform at The Ford Center Tuesday night. Courtesy: The Ford Center
Lee Bains III will continue the Center for Southern Studies Music of the South Concert Series, featuring music that tackles questions of Southern identity.
This evening at 7 p.m., Bains will perform a solo show in the studio theater at the Gertrude C. Ford Center. Bains, a Southern rock artist from Birmingham, Alabama, said he is honored and a little intimidated to be playing in the series.
His band, The Glory Fires, are known for their Southern Rock sound and their powerful lyrics, which grapple with the good and the bad connotations that accompany Southern pride.
“Playing these songs by myself in a quieter, more lyric-focused way in front of an academic crowd will strangely be more visceral than the band’s typical modus operandi, which is to take the stage late at night, and set the amps to ‘deafen,’” Bains said. “I try to steep songs in cultural theory and history — as I understand them anyway — but there will be folks in attendance much smarter and more well-read than me.”
The event is open to all Ole Miss community members, whether they are Southern Studies students, Ford Center enthusiasts or local music followers.
The focus of the Music of the South Concert Series is to allow those interested in delving deeper into the culture that surrounds the region the opportunity to experience southern artists at a closer level. The Ford Center’s studio, or “black box,” theater is a purposefully intimate venue, seating about 150, giving patrons a chance to look deeper into the music. The cozy atmosphere of the Studio Theater allows musicians who oftentimes play much louder venues to communicate with their audience and provide context for their music during the show.
The concert series came about only a few years ago when program director Ted Ownby had an idea to host a concert series in a small venue, in which the musicians could speak with the audience about their music as they performed.
Becca Walton, associate director for projects at the center, said the initial goal of the concert series is to enrich those with an interest in Southern Culture.
“We view the South as a diverse and expansive space and wanted this series to demonstrate the range of musical traditions in the region and how they continually evolve,” Walton said.
In 2012, Ownby and Walton met with Norm Easterbrook, director of the Ford Center, to discuss the idea, and he agreed to partner with them. The series has previously featured artists Caroline Herring, Randall Bramblett, Valerie June, Blind Boy Paxton and John “JoJo” Hermann, The Water Liars, Amy Andrews, Tyler Keith and the band Feufollet.
The Southern cultural identity is complicated and oftentimes twisted into a harsh misconception of celebrated oppression and even violent hatred. Walton said Bains seeks to claim a Southern identity that includes all people in the South, resisting the idea that to be Southern means to be white.
“This inclusive definition is one that is important to our work at UM,” Walton said.
Bains seems to be well chosen for this concert series, as his most recently released album “Dereconstructed” attempts to answer the question of what exactly makes music “Southern” and how we can celebrate a beautiful culture without seeming to ignore the most negative aspects of the region’s past.
“I will say that I am deeply inspired by the South – its peoples and stories,” Bains said. “Travel is crucial to me, but I will never be able to consider another place home. The South created me, for better or worse, and I need it. Much more than it needs me.”
