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Online Concert Series From The Caverns Bolsters Voter Turnout

Kyshona Armstrong kicked off the Harmony On The Horizon concert series.

Early voting is underway in Tennessee, with record-setting turnout in its early days. Still, Tennessee is in the bottom tenth among states for voter participation in general, and a showcase series is hoping to improve that statistic in the near and long term. BriteHeart, a three-year-old non-partisan organization promoting “civic participation and awareness” joins non-profit business incubator This Is Noteworthy to present Harmony On The Horizon Early Vote Concert Series, ongoing through Nov. 2

The half-hour video sets, taped at the Caverns, site of Bluegrass Underground, are being unveiled at 8 pm CT daily and can be viewed in the archives. It kicked off Oct. 14 with Kyshona Armstrong. Tonight will feature Devon Gilfillian, with upcoming shows by mostly Middle Tennessee artists including Katie Pruitt, Lydia Luce, Becca Mancari and Langhorne Slim. A complete lineup follows.

“This wasn’t about (any) personal political opinion. This is about how do we use our voices to vote to make our community better,” series director Becca Finley told WMOT. She took a strong role in developing the sets with the artists and says the series is more than a disconnected string of performances. “When we got back (from the shoot), I laid out all the footage and figured out which show should go in which order and how each one fit together to create a narrative that is the fabric of our nation and what makes up our democracy. So if you watch them all back to back, it’s like a novel where each chapter is a different experience and each set takes you on its own journey.” 

Finley believes the series will outlive its relevance to the 2020 contest. “It’s not just about this election. it’s about forever. Your voice and your vote is forever.” 

WMOT is a media sponsor of the series.

 

 

The Oct. 15 show featured Gustavo Guerrero.
 
 

Correction: The original story mis-identified the series director as Cillea Houghton.

Craig Havighurst is WMOT's editorial director and host of The String, a weekly interview show airing Mondays at 8 pm, repeating Sundays at 7 am. He also co-hosts The Old Fashioned on Saturdays at 9 am and Tuesdays at 8 pm. Threads and Instagram: @chavighurst. Email: craig@wmot.org