On Wednesday, September 24, from 6:30 to 8 pm, Craig Harris will be at C.H. Booth Library to discuss his recent release, The Band: Pioneers of Americana Music.

At a time when popular music was dominated by heavy metal, acid rock, and bubblegum, The Band  — featuring Canadians Robbie Robertson, Rick Danko, Richard Manuel, and Garth Hudson, and Arkansas-born Levon Helm — rebelled against the rebellion with tight ensemble arrangements, masterful musicianship, impressionable lead vocals, earthy harmonies, highly literate lyrics, and a profound respect for the music of the American South.

Fusing R&B, jump blues, country, folk, boogie woogie, swing, Cajun, New Orleans-style jazz, and rock, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame-inducted quintet set the foundations for the Americana music that would take hold 30 years later. Their collaborations with Bob Dylan in the 1960s and 70s, remain cultural milestones.

Craig Harris, Med, taught music in public and charter schools for a quarter of a century before launching his award-winning, multicultural, and participatory Drum Away the Blues program in 2007.

His music-oriented articles, reviews, and photographs have appeared in newspapers (Boston Globe, Boston Herald, Village Voice), magazines (Sing Out, Dirty Linen, Global Rhythms) and websites (All Music Guide). The author of The New Folk Music (White Cliffs Media, 1993) as well as his new release about The Band (Rowman & Littlefield, 2014), Mr Harris was also a major contributor to Music Hound Folk Music: Essential Album Guide (Viking Ink, 1997) and Music Hound World Music: Essential Album Guide (Viking Ink, 1997).

Playing drums and percussion since his preteens, Mr Harris has appeared in concert and/or on recordings with Rod MacDonald, CJ Chenier, Jonathan Edwards, Greg Brown, the Fast Folk Music Revue, Gaea Star Band, and the late Merl Saunders and Rick Danko (The Band).

The staff photographer of the Falcon Ridge Folk Festival, in Hillsdale, N.Y., since its inception in 1988, his photographs have exhibited throughout New England.

For his program at Booth Library, Mr Harris plans to offer an in-depth exploration into The Band’s music and the impact that they had on contemporary American society.

Booth Library is at 25 Main Street in Newtown. For additional information call 203-426-4533 or visit CHBoothLibrary.org.