WHEELING, W.Va. – West Virginia Independence Hall In Wheeling will host a performance by Sparky and Rhonda Rucker, musicians, authors and storytellers, on Saturday, Feb. 11, at 1 p.m. The performance is free and open to the public.

 The Ruckers perform throughout the U.S. as well as overseas, singing songs and telling stories from the American folk tradition. They are internationally recognized as leading musicians, authors, and storytellers. They accompany themselves with fingerstyle picking and bottleneck blues guitar, blues harmonica, old-time banjo, piano, spoons and bones. 

Sparky and Rhonda are sure to deliver an uplifting presentation of toe-tapping music spiced with humor, history and tall tales. They take their audience on an educational and emotional journey that ranges from poignant stories of slavery and war to an amusing rendition of a Brer Rabbit tale or their witty commentaries on current events. Their music includes a variety of old-time blues, Appalachian music, slave songs, Civil War music, spirituals, work songs, ballads, civil rights music and their own original compositions.

You will hear soulful blues licks, heart-rending gospel, knee-slapping good rhythms and bottleneck guitar slide. Over 50 years of performing, Sparky and Rhonda have performed at the Kennedy Center in Washington D.C. and the Smithsonian Folklife Festival as well as NPR’s All Things ConsideredPrairie Home CompanionMountain Stage and Morning Edition. Their recording, Treasures & Tears, was nominated for a W.C. Handy Award, and their music is also included on the Grammy-nominated anthology, Singing Through the Hard Times.

For more information about Sparky and Rhonda, you can visit their website at www.sparkyandrhonda.com.

For more information about the performance or West Virginia Independence Hall, contact Debbie Jones, site manager, at Deborah.J.Jones@wv.gov or (304) 238-1300.