Nashville Symphony Concert To Honor Boudleaux And Felice Bryant
The Nashville Symphony will celebrate iconic songwriter Boudleaux Bryant‘s 100th birthday and the 75th anniversary of meeting his wife and songwriting partner Felice with a special concert event on Feb. 13, 2020 at 7:30 p.m. at Nashville’s Schermerhorn Symphony Center.
Boudleaux & Felice Bryant Centennial Celebration: A Diamond Anniversary Love Story in Song will pay tribute to Boudleaux and Felice Bryant with a unique program featuring the pair’s most beloved songs and the U.S. premiere of Boudleaux’s Polynesian Suite, featuring steel guitarist Chris Scruggs.
Boudleaux and Felice’s youngest son Del and his wife Carolyn, patrons and friends of the Symphony, will serve as emcees for the evening, which will also feature the Nashville Symphony Orchestra joined by Jamey Johnson, The War and Treaty, Steve Tyrell, and members of the UT-Knoxville Pride of the Southland Marching Band.
“The love Boudleaux and Felice had for each other is as inspirational as their music. I am so happy to be hosting this celebration of love with their son, the love of my life, on the night before Valentine’s Day,” said Carolyn Smith Bryant.
“Polynesian Suite was commissioned for Monument Records in 1968 by Hall-of-Famer Fred Foster, who had already struck gold with another of Dad’s instrumental pieces, ‘Mexico,’” said Del Bryant. “He thought he could re-create the worldwide commercial success by pairing Dad’s musicality with that of renowned Hawaiian lap steel player Jerry Byrd. I hope Polynesian Suite is met with the warm breezes of a loving audience and becomes as classic and identifiable as many of their other works.”
Additional special guests may be announced in the coming weeks. Proceeds from the event will help children served by Boudleaux and Felice’s grandson Thaddeus’ nonprofit organization The Heads Up Penny Foundation and the Nashville Symphony’s education programs.
Boudleaux and Felice Bryant, the first professional songwriters of Nashville, have sold over half a billion records and shaped the soundtrack of millions of lives with hits including “Bye Bye Love,” “Wake Up Little Susie,” “All I Have to Do Is Dream,” “Love Hurts,” “Rocky Top,” “Country Boy” and many more. The Bryants wrote more than 6,000 songs, more than 900 of which were recorded and performed by artists working in many different musical genres, including The Beach Boys, Tony Bennett, Brothers Osborne, Ray Charles, Kenny Chesney, Jimmy Dickens, Bob Dylan, the Everly Brothers, the Grateful Dead, Joan Jett, Gram Parsons, Phish, Eddie Vedder, Simon & Garfunkel and countless others. They were elected to the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1972, the National Academy of Popular Music’s Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1986 and the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1991.
Tickets go on sale to the public at 10 am on Friday, December 13, and can be purchased at NashvilleSymphony.org/BryantCentennialCelebration, via phone at 615.687.6400 or at the Schermerhorn Box Office. Boudleaux’s VIP Birthday Bash packages – including a box seat, post-concert reception and commemorative item – are available starting at $500 per person.
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