Join this Country Blues duo at Southern Vermont Arts Center on Saturday, May 4th for a concert benefiting the Manchester Community Library.

6:00 – 7:30 PM Opening acts from Burr & Burton Academy and Long Trail School

7:30 – 9:00 PM Paul Rishell & Annie Raines

Country Blues guitar and harmonica masters Paul Rishell & Annie Raines are celebrating 31 years as a working team. They have recorded 6 albums together, including the award-winning Moving to the Country. They have performed and recorded with John Sebastian, Susan Tedeschi, Pinetop Perkins and Rory Block, opened for Ray Charles, Dr. John, and Little Feat, and performed on Late Night with Conan O’Brien and A Prairie Home Companion. In over 50 years as a performer, teacher, historian, and torchbearer of the country blues tradition, Paul Rishell has taught the techniques required to do justice to the originals while sharing his first-hand accounts of meeting iconic prewar blues legends like Son House, Johnny Shines and Sonny Terry. Annie Raines’ harmonica virtuosity has been lauded by top players like James Cotton, Charlie Musselwhite and Pinetop Perkins. With 11 years as Country Blues Visiting Artists in Berklee College of Music’s American Roots Music Program, Rishell & Raines continue to entertain and educate audiences with traditional and original songs at festivals, concert halls, and clubs all over the world.

“W.C. Handy Award-winners Rishell & Raines are rousing interpreters of country blues, the original acoustic style that gave birth to electric blues, R&B, and rock. While their guitar, harmonica, and vocals are roiling, muscular, and masterful, their shows are down home-friendly and fun-loving.”

–Scott Alarik, BOSTON GLOBE

This concert is brought to us through the Vermont Blues Society.

Tickets are $25 each, and can be purchased on Eventbrite using the QR Code or the Event Website link below.