Our Front Porch with musical guest Tui

With much regret, we are canceling this event.

The Western Illinois Museum is pleased to welcome the internationally touring old-time duo, Tui (too-wee) who will perform on Wednesday, July 15, 2020, at 6:30 pm. Our Front Porch (inside the museum!) is the perfect setting to hear a performance of songs from their debut LP, Pretty Little Mister. There is a suggested $5 donation at the door.

Tui achieved a balance of songs originating with African American string band players, eastern Tennessee players, and others simply by choosing songs its members liked. Tui is made up of Jake Blount and Libby Weitnauer. Blount, a funk and metal guitarist, and Weitnauer a classically-trained violinist share a passion for archival recordings to craft a sound that is, at the same time, old and new. They draw inspiration equally from rare archival recordings, the music of their peers, and extensive experiences with other genres of music. Tui’s diverse influences enable them to create music that is innovative and technically demanding, yet accessible and affecting, as only old songs can be.

For more information about Tui and the members of the band visit their website at www.tuiband.com and on their Facebook page at www.facebook.com/tuiduomusic/.

This program is partially supported by a grant from the Illinois Arts Council Agency through federal funds provided by the National Endowment for the Arts and the Two Rivers Arts Council.

The Western Illinois Museum is located at 201 South Lafayette Street, one block south of Macomb’s Courthouse Square. Free parking is available. For more information, please contact the Western Illinois Museum at 309.837.2750, or visit the museum’s Facebook page or website at www.wimuseum.org.

More about the musicians

Jake Blount is a fiddler, banjo player, and scholar based in Washington, D.C. He has performed and recorded with acclaimed fiddler Tatiana Hargreaves and award-winning old-time string band The Moose Whisperers, in addition to having served as a guest lecturer on music history at numerous museums and universities.  In 2018, he and Hargreaves opened a series of shows for GRAMMY-winner and MacArthur “Genius Grant” recipient Rhiannon Giddens, and in 2019, he won the Clifftop Appalachian Stringband Festival Banjo Contest. He centers and venerates his racial and ethnic heritage through his approach to music and its history.

Fiddler and singer Libby Weitnauer has degrees in classical violin performance from DePaul University and New York University, but she finds her voice in the traditional music of Appalachia. She has performed in a wide array of venues and concert halls, including the Smithsonian after a summer of research and music-making under the supervision of GRAMMY-Award winner Dom Flemons.