The Alden in McLean opens its new "Live @ The Alden" performance series for teens and young adults with a special guitar workshop and performance by acclaimed blues artist and historian Scott Ainslie. The guitar workshop will be held at 5:30 p.m. on Saturday, Oct. 28. Ainslie will perform at 8 p.m. Tickets for the workshop are $10, $5 for McLean tax district residents. Tickets for the performance are $20, $15 for McLean tax district residents. The Alden is located at 1234 Ingleside Avenue.
Ainslie brings the African and American roots, history and bare soul of blues music alive in a beguiling mix of stories and songs with abandon, care and intimacy. Dirty Linen magazine describes his music as "Fiery picking and slide work...and his deep passionate blues man's growl."A Phi Beta Kappa and honors graduate of Washington and Lee University, Ainslie has received numerous awards and grants for his artistic and scholarly contributions. His recordings include three roots-oriented acoustic blues projects, Jealous of the Moon (1995), Terraplane (1997), You Better Lie Down (2002), and a collection of Ainslie's non-blues original songs, The Feral Crow (2004). His most recent CD Thunder's Mouth (2008) is an original and moving extension of his work with African and African-American music.Videos