Join us for free daytime presentations and conversations, followed by the Evening Frolic of music and dance. Tickets are free, advance registration is required. Admission will be first come. More details below. Thanks for coming!

10:30am

Color Me Country x Beloved Community: A songversation between Rissi Palmer and Kamara Thomas

Join us for a conversation and acoustic performance from Durham based songspeller, ritualist, multidisciplinary storyteller, and creator of Country Soul Songbook, Kamara Thomas and Rissi Palmer. Both mothers and musicians, the two discuss how to create like that life work balance, the pivot that so many artists have had to do in order to keep above water in the current climate, and building community within a musical space and balancing creative work with organizing and advocacy. Between the discussion, Kamara will play selections from her vast discography.

12:00pm

Dip Family Reunion

To celebrate the release of Spring Council’s debut cookbook Southern Roots: Recipes and Stories from Mama Dip’s Daughter, Biscuits & Banjos will host the author in conversation about her family’s legacy in food and entrepreneurship. Inspired by her mother’s near fifty year run at the helm of Mama Dip’s Kitchen, a beloved Chapel Hill institution, Spring will reflect on the power of gathering people around good food. Curated by BEM | books & more, a New York-based bookstore & culinary hub dedicated to global Black storytelling and foodways.

1:30pm

Songs of the Living

A session in collaborating with storytellers through calls to sing, featuring Toshi Reagon, Alexis Pauline Gumbs and Destiny Hemphill.

1:30-5:30pm

Bookmobile

Courtesy of Durham County Public Library

Books specially curated for checkout by Biscuits and Banjos and BEM | books and more! Kids coloring sheets of Black country trailblazers available!

3:00pm

Kristina Gaddy x Rhiannon Giddens: Go Back and Fetch It - A Book Talk and Signing

Join groundbreaking banjo scholar Kristina Gaddy and Pulitzer prize winner Rhiannon Giddens as they talk about their book Go Back and Fetch It: Recovering Early Black Music in the Americas for Fiddle and Banjo (UNC Press 2025). Books will be available for purchase and signing.

For the first time, this groundbreaking songbook collaboration by Gaddy and Giddens makes nineteen examples of early Black Atlantic music accessible and playable for today’s musicians, music enthusiasts, and historians. Presenting music from 1687 through the 1860s in modern treble clef and banjo tablature, along with the rich stories behind each song, Gaddy and Giddens take readers on a journey from the Caribbean across the Americas.

Immensely readable for amateurs and professionals alike, Go Back and Fetch It explains the significance of early Black Atlantic music and how the patterns of tunings, melodic lines, and lyrics shed light on the impact that Black American music has had on nineteenth-century popular music, early country, old time, and bluegrass. Each tune pairs with an engaging essay on its historical background and how the tune transformed over time, as well as information about the collector. Deeply researched and carefully approached, this essential source restores the roots of Black music to the musical canon.

4:30pm

Fifty Years of Edna Lewis’ The Taste of Country Cooking

Join us to reflect on fifty years of the seminal cookbook by Virginia-raised chef Edna Lewis: The Taste Of Country Cooking. We’ll explore Edna Lewis’ legacy and lasting impact on American foodways, bringing her work into conversation with other books including Michael Carter’s forthcoming Africulture: How The Principles, Practices, Plants, and People of African Descent Have Shaped American Agriculture. Moderated by Danielle Davenport, co-founder of BEM | books & more. Curated by BEM | books & more, a New York-based bookstore & culinary hub dedicated to global Black storytelling and foodways.

8:00-10:00pm

SPECIAL EVENING PERFORMANCE AND DANCE

Evening frolic: a line and square dance.

Music from Jake Blount, Justin Robinson, Rhiannon Giddens, Jason Sypher and Demeanor.

Calling by Phil Jamison.

Line dance song selection by Malinda D. Evans.

IMPORTANT DETAILS

Free parking along Ramseur St. and in the Health and Human Services garage on Dillard St. just off E. Main St., about half a block from our entrance. The gravel lot next to the building is $10+ and benefits the rail road. Handicap parkers may use any of the spots in front of the building including those for employees. Inside, some seating is provided for the daytime events but seats are first come. Full bar available in the evening. Aaktun Restaurant is open early and has great coffee and to-go breakfasts. Please do not bring coolers, chairs, blankets, outside beverages (coffee ok), or large backpacks. We have a free water fountain to fill your bottle. We have coat racks but no secured coat check. If there's a line for the evening, our team will meet with you to manage expectations for entry. Further instructions will be available closer to the date. Thanks!