originally published: 04/01/2024

(PRINCETON, NJ) -- McCarter Theatre Center presents Trailblazing Women of Country - A Tribute to Patsy, Loretta, and Dolly in the Matthews Theater on Sunday, April 14, 2024 at 7:00pm. The night pays tribute to three towering voices that have forever altered the course of the culture - Patsy Cline, Loretta Lynn, and Dolly Parton.

If there were a Mount Rushmore of women in country music, it would undoubtedly include the faces of these three. Proving women artists’ commercial viability with chart-topping hits and record-breaking sales, these indomitable singer-songwriters wove threads of contemporary womanhood throughout the tapestry of country music.

This tribute show, featuring soloists Miko Marks, Country Music Television’s 2022 “Next Woman of Country” and Nashville based singer Kristina Train, will perform works from the artists’ sizable discographies supported by a 5-member, all-woman band.

Tickets range from $25-$65 and are available for purchase online. McCarter Theatre Center is located at 91 University Place in Princeton, New Jersey on the campus of Princeton University.

Miko Marks: The Wall Street Journal has described it as a “genre and industry-defying mission.” NPR declared it a “multilayered experience.” The New York Times commended the movement as carving out a new path in country music. All tell the story of Miko Marks’ resurgence as she deftly blends country, blues, southern rock and even gospel to create a sound and experience that has literally brought every audience to its feet. This new sound along with her warm and soulful spirit catapulted her into a community of change with her doing more than breaking ground – she’s shattering it. It’s a serendipitous realization that Marks was meant to be here, at this time, in this moment, for good.

 

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Kristina Train: It is in the briefest of phrases, notes and words, that Kristina Train shows herself to be that all-too-rare thing: a singer who can take the simplest of lyrics and not only occupy them, heart-and-soul, but wring from them a level of emotion, conviction and intensity that has always sorted truly great singing from the merely average. As Kristina sings, you hear not only the immaculate phrasing and innate musicality, but the experiences – the joy and the heartache, the setbacks and the triumphs – that she brings to them. Singing was always this ingrained and significant for her, she says. “I’ve learned that the clichés about music and being musical exist for a reason. I was singing before I started speaking – it was a completely natural thing. As a child, it was always music, only music, always singing, only singing, and that’s all I cared about."

McCarter is one of the country's flagship theatres and a vibrant center for community and for the performing arts. Located on the campus of Princeton University, the company is an independent nonprofit, serving as a nationally renowned, multi-disciplinary creative hub of arts and ideas, offering theatre, music, dance, spoken word, and educational programs for all ages. A two-time Tony Award winner, McCarter's legacy of artistic excellence traces back to the theatre's first performances in 1930. Thornton Wilder's Our Town, Kaufmann & Hart's You Can't Take It with You, and William Inge's Bus Stop all had their premieres on the McCarter stage, paving the way for a long history of collaborations with playwrights to launch remarkable works that have gone on to tens of thousands of performances reaching millions of audience members around the world.

The company is equally revered for presenting global artists on its stages, including Alvin Ailey, Yo-Yo Ma, Samara Joy, Hasan Minhaj, Jon Stewart, Caetano Veloso, Rhiannon Giddens, Patti Smith, Esperanza Spalding, Lake Street Dive, and Herbie Hancock, among many others. Of the 100,000 community members who directly participate in the company's work every year, more than 5,000 are students taking part in McCarter's robust educational offerings in Princeton, Trenton, and in schools throughout the region. McCarter leads with values of "justice and joy, and beauty in belonging," creating stories and experiences that enliven minds, expand imaginations, and engage communities.

 

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