The Farmer & Adele

CHAUTAUQUA — Rolling Hills Radio will present its annual show on the Amphitheater stage in Chautauqua Institution Sunday, August 4. Christine Lavin and The Farmer & Adele will be the guests on this nationally syndicated radio show.

“Being on this venerable stage is at once an honor and very natural for what we do,” said Ken Hardley, host and executive producer of Rolling Hills Radio. “Our format and the musicians we bring to the stage harken to a different era in many ways, an era in which music like we will present in Chautauqua thrived.”

Rolling Hills Radio is a celebration of American music with a format that was popular in the middle of the last century. Artists perform songs and participate in interviews with Hardley onstage in front of a live studio audience. The show is a nationally syndicated radio show, a video version of which is available on a limited number of television stations and the “Rolling Hills Radio with Ken Hardley” YouTube channel.

While Rolling Hills is normally recorded during its regular season in front of a limited audience of 75-120 people in Jamestown, on Aug. 4 the popular show opens up to whomever would like to attend, and this one time per year only, free of charge. The regular season is recorded monthly from September through April, but Rolling Hills goes on the road over the summer.

“The live experience is, in its essence, an intimate look at the taping of a radio show,” says Hardley. “Such a concept is rare in this era of two-dimensional entertainment and I think this is a large part of the appeal and what keeps our audience coming back. People can witness the taping as it occurs, complete with all of the spontaneity, bloopers, and moments of inspiration one can expect from an unrehearsed live show.”

Hardley’s unique interviewing style has become a trademark of Rolling Hills Radio. His folksy-yet-edgy persona has a way of bringing out the humor, pathos, and inner workings of his guests with a singular, disarming, and engaging charm.

This episode’s guests are folk darling, Christine Lavin as well as the Farmer & Adele from Nashville.

Ms. Lavin is a singer/songwriter, guitarist, recording artist/author who has been working as a musician based in New York City since 1984. She decided to make folk music her life at the urging of Dave Van Ronk and never looked back. Christine just released her 23rd solo album, which charted at No. 5 for the month of September 2017 on the International Folk DJ charts.

The Farmer & Adele are reimaging the modern cowboy/cowgirl while respecting its beginnings. Based out of Nashville, TN, The Farmer & Adele, led by Grace Adele and Keenan Wade, leads the pack of a new wave of musicians revitalizing western swing music.

“Both of these acts have appeared before on Rolling Hills Radio and the clamber to have them back was irresistible,” according to Hardley. “Undoubtably, this will be a day of energetic, musical, and hilarious entertainment. They are both perfect for the ambience of these beautiful surroundings.”

This project is made possible with funds from the Decentralization Program, a regrant program of the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Andrew Cuomo and the New York State Legislature and administered by Tri-County Arts Council.