Heritage Concert Series: Laura Cortese & the Dance Cards on January 16th

Brecksville, Ohio – On Saturday, January 16, 2016, the energetic all-girl band, Laura Cortese & the Dance Cards will play in Cuyahoga Valley National Park. The quartet will take the Happy Days Lodge stage as part of the Heritage Concert Series. This series, presented by the National Park Service and the Conservancy for Cuyahoga Valley National Park, celebrates the cultural legacy of the Cuyahoga Valley, and is made possible thanks to the generous support of Cable 9 Television and Cascade Auto Group.

Join us when doors open to purchase light meal options featuring soups, snacks, and sweets. Prepared by Conservancy Canteen, hot soups highlight seasonal ingredients and are paired with local, alcoholic and non-alcoholic handcrafted beverages.

Single concert admission: $17 adults, $12 Conservancy members, $5 children ages 3 - 12. Light meals options will be sold to general concert attendees for an additional fee. Happy Days Lodge. Dinner in the Valley begins at 6 p.m., doors open at 7:00 p.m., and concert begins at 8 p.m. General seating.

On concert days, call the Cultural Arts Hotline at 440-546-5998 after 2 p.m. for up-to-date ticket availability and severe weather cancellations. All concerts are held at Happy Days Lodge.

Create your own subscription series and enjoy any three Cuyahoga Valley Heritage Series concerts for one low price! Three-concert series: $45 adults, $30 Conservancy members, $15 children ages 3 - 12. No cash refunds, but tickets may be exchanged up to 10 days before the concert. Advance sales available by calling 330-657-2909, option 4, or purchasing online atwww.conservancyforcvnp.org. Click on Events for listings and registration links.

“Ambition often follows talent, and Laura Cortese has an embarrassment of both,” says John Wenzel, Denver Post. “Her open-armed approach to her art reveals a determination to spread the word about folk music and dance without watering down their distinctiveness.”

Laura Cortese has a vision for her band’s sound: bold and elegant, schooled in the lyrical rituals of folk music and backed by grooves that alternately inspire Cajun two-stepping and rock-n-roll hip swagger. It’s appropriate then that the quartet, featuring Cortese, call themselves Laura Cortese & the Dance Cards.

Cellist Valerie Thompson (cello/vox), the band’s newest fiddler Jenna Moynihan (fiddle/vox), and a rotating cast of female bass players pair their sophisticated string arrangements and rich vocal harmonies to Cortese’s poignant and powerful singing. Watching them on the main stage at a summer folk festival, or tearing it up late-night at a club, you get the sense that they might snap some fiddle strings or punch a hole in the bass drum. This is post-folk that seriously rocks.

True to their adventurous spirit and wide-ranging influences, the group was recently selected for the second time from a pool of 400 bands to tour with the US State Department’s American Music Abroad program. In 2014, the band toured India, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and Bangladesh to perform and teach as artist ambassadors. Now the band is eagerly awaiting their next international assignment for Spring 2016.

Other Scheduled Heritage Series Concerts

Friday, January 22

Mountain Heart: Acoustic, Bluegrass

Saturday, February 6
Way Down Wanderers: Americana

Friday, February 12
Ten Strings And A Goat Skin: Irish, Acadian, and French World Rhythms

Friday, February 19
The Quebe Sisters: Western swing, Swing Jazz, Texas Fiddle

Friday, March 11
Billy Strings and Don Julin: Bluegrass

Friday, March 18
Della Mae: Bluegrass

Sunday, April 3

Guy Davis: Blues

Friday, April 15

Barefoot Movement: Bluegrass

Wednesday, May 18

Robin and Linda Williams: Americana, Folk, and Bluegrass

Happy Days Lodge is located at 500 West Streetsboro Road (SR 303), 1 mile west of SR 8, Peninsula 44264.

The Conservancy for Cuyahoga Valley National Park is a nonprofit organization created to engage public support for the park and provide services to enhance public use and enjoyment of the park. For more information about the Conservancy and its membership program, visitwww.conservancyforcvnp.org or call 330-657-2909.

CVNP encompasses 33,000 acres along the Cuyahoga River between Cleveland and Akron, Ohio. Managed by the National Park Service, CVNP combines cultural, historical, recreational, and natural activities in one setting. For more information, visit www.nps.gov/cuva or call 330-657-2752.