Zoe and Cloyd to perform at Chapel of Rest

Oct. 12—The four-member Americana band Zoe and Cloyd will perform traditional old time and bluegrass music during a fall concert Sunday afternoon at the Chapel of Rest Preservation Society.

The ticked concert will be at 4 p.m. at the chapel, located at 1964 N.C. 268 in Lenoir.

Zoe and Cloyd will be joined by Kevin Kehrberg on bass and Ben Krakauer on banjo.

The Asheville-based band recently released its fifth studio album, "Songs of Our Grandfathers," in May on Organic Records, just before their debut international performance at Bluegrass Omagh in Northern Ireland.

The album was inspired by the 1995 album, "Songs of Our Fathers," by David Grisman and Andy Statman that is a collection of Jewish melodies from their shared heritage. Zoe and Cloyd created their latest album in a similar vein, albeit with klezmer and bluegrass, as an homage to their grandfathers and their unique musical stories, according to the band's website.

Bluegrass and klezmer music styles were born in working-class communities, incorporating regional and popular influences of the time. Bluegrass absorbed elements of jazz and blues into its old-time stringband framework, while klezmer music, with its genesis in the Jewish community of Eastern Europe, often included tunes from a wide variety of countries and ethnic groups.

Klezgrass is one word that best describes the vast musical world of Zoe and Cloyd.

The band comes from rich and complementary traditions that include the artistic stylings of fiddler and vocalist Natalya Zoe Weinstein and multi-instrumentalist and vocalist John Cloyd Miller. Zoe and Cloyd delight audiences with soaring harmonies and heartfelt songwriting, seamlessly combining original bluegrass, klezmer, old-time and folk with sincerity and zeal.

Descending from a lineage of klezmer and jazz musicians, Natalya trained classically in her home state of Massachusetts before discovering old-time and bluegrass and moving south in 2004.

John, a 12th generation North Carolinian and grandson of a pioneering bluegrass fiddler, is a gifted singer and songwriter, placing 1st in the prestigious Chris Austin Songwriting Contest and the Hazel Dickens Songwriting Contest. Long-time fixtures of the Asheville music scene, the two are founding members of the lauded roots trio, Red June, later shifting to Zoe and Cloyd after the birth of their daughter in 2015.

In the past year, the Zoe and Cloyd band was an official showcase artist at the International Bluegrass Music Association's World of Bluegrass. They were the featured guest artists for the Davidson College Holiday Gala, as well as hosts of "A Swannanoa Solstice" at the Wortham Center for the Performing Arts in Asheville.

The Chapel of Rest is situated on a grassy knoll overlooking the Yadkin River in Happy Valley, in the foothills of western North Carolina.

The chapel was built in 1887, and originally served as the chapel for the Patterson School for Boys. In 1922, a new chapel was built on the Patterson School campus.

The Chapel of Rest Preservation Society was created in 1984 to preserve the historical integrity of the chapel and to maintain the building and grounds. The chapel was placed under protective covenant with Preservation North Carolina, in 2016.

Concert detailsAdmission for the Sunday concert is $20 and $5 for ages 12 and younger, with payment at the door by cash or check.

Wine and craft beer from the Happy Valley Filling Station will be sold at the beginning of the concert, and at the reception to follow.

The Chapel of Rest is nine miles north of Lenoir on N.C. 268, adjacent to the campus of the historic Patterson School for Boys and the Western N.C. Sculpture Center.

For more information, email info@chapelofrest.org.