Registration for this event is full.
To be placed on the waitlist, please email [email protected].
To be placed on the waitlist, please email [email protected].
Rhythm & Rails:
Northampton and the Railroad – A Social History in Tales and Tunes
Northampton and the Railroad – A Social History in Tales and Tunes
Wednesday, April 29, 2026 at 7:00 pm
Northampton Center for the Arts
33 Hawley Street, Northampton, MA 01060
33 Hawley Street, Northampton, MA 01060
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Rhythm & Rails, a multimedia performance, draws to the stage some of the Valley’s most talented musicians and actors to animate the complex history of railroads in America.
The arrival of the railroad in the United States in the mid-nineteenth century profoundly affected the nation’s history. Here in Northampton and across the country, railroads changed the pace of life, the perception of space and time, the movement of people and goods, and the country's economic, technological, and social history. The impact of railroads on the lives of people across America was recorded in letters, photographs, literature, and in thousands of songs—from American roots, folk and rag time to blues, jazz, pop, and rock. At the center of Rhythm & Rails is Northampton’s railroad history, but the performance takes us to other parts of New England and the country using a blend of railroad-themed music, narration, theatrical cameos, and archival images. This performance is sold out.
Doors open at 6:30 pm. |
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Free. All Seating is General Admission
Stewardship tickets of $10, $25, and $35 will help defray costs.
All proceeds benefit The Red Skies Music Ensemble.
Stewardship tickets of $10, $25, and $35 will help defray costs.
All proceeds benefit The Red Skies Music Ensemble.
Registration for this event is full.
To be placed on the waitlist, please email [email protected].
To be placed on the waitlist, please email [email protected].
Rhythm and Rails is the product of the creative vision and authorship of Trudy Williams.
In developing Rhythm and Rails, Williams researched the archives and resources of Forbes Library and Historic Northampton and other local and regional institutions. She collaborated with noted area musicians Jim Armenti (Music Advisor) and Jerry Bryant (Music Director) on selecting songs and tunes for the show, and with cast member singer/actor Tracy Grammer on writing the theatrical vignettes.
Musicians and performers include: Jim Armenti, Jerry Bryant, Joe Blumenthal, Bill Cutler, Tracy Grammer, Indë, Rose Jackson, Evan Kos, Mark Roberts, Dan Scott, Tom Scott, Adrienne Wade, Shirley Van Kanin, and Rebecca Weiss. This show will also include a special appearance by Maryliz Maldanado and Will Messier of the Children's Corn Stalk Fiddle Choir, which Cindy Naughton directs; as well as Ella Elliot, MawuLisa Thomas-Adeyemo and Min Tyrone Bowie Jr. of the Ujima Singers, directed by Indë Francis.
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Trudy Williams is the Artistic Director and co-founder with George Boziwick of The Red Skies Music Ensemble. In 2024 she wrote and produced Corn Stalk Fiddles: Soundscape and Place in 19th Century Hadley, which was performed in Hadley and sponsored by the Hadley Historical Society and Porter-Phelps-Huntington Museum.
In all her shows she is dedicated to a performance model of public musicology that weaves together toe-tapping and expressive music, narration, theater, arts, and historical images to animate facts and interpretations of American public history and culture. |
Artistic Director Trudy Williams
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Her other shows about American history and culture have been performed in Washington DC (Library of Congress), New York (Lincoln Center Public Program Series / NY Public Library for the Performing Arts), Long Island Museum of Art and History (a Smithsonian affiliate), Cambridge, MA (A.R.T Oberon Special Program Series / Harvard Houghton Library), New Haven (Yale University), the Emily Dickinson Museum in Amherst, MA and the Hadley Public Library sponsored by the Hadley Historical Society and Porter-Phelps-Huntington Museum, and Forbes Library, Northampton.
A musician herself, Williams plays bass in the Fiddle Orchestra of Western Massachusetts / Valley String Band and the Machine Shop Jam Band. In 2019 she received the American Antiquarian Society’s Baron Fellowship for Creative and Performing Artists and Writers. After spending many years in New York City, she moved to Leeds, Massachusetts in 2018.
A musician herself, Williams plays bass in the Fiddle Orchestra of Western Massachusetts / Valley String Band and the Machine Shop Jam Band. In 2019 she received the American Antiquarian Society’s Baron Fellowship for Creative and Performing Artists and Writers. After spending many years in New York City, she moved to Leeds, Massachusetts in 2018.