Events

Join OLLI at FAU for this special music and lecture event! Professor Taylor Hagood will present the riveting story of the life and tragic death of David "Stringbean" Akeman, a Grand Ole Opry star who performed as a comic, singer, and banjo player as told in Hagood's book, "Stringbean: The Life and Murder of a Country Music Legend," published last year on the tragic event's fiftieth anniversary. Because the banjo was so intimately tied to Stringbean's persona, Hagood will incorporate the uniquely American history of the instrument from the stringed drum on a stick, brought from Africa by enslaved people, to minstrel playing and Appalachian clawhammer, and bluegrass, to jazz and even classical artistry of such major present-day banjoists as Béla Fleck, Dom Flemons, and MacArthur Fellowship winner, Rhiannon Giddens. Hagood will weave the music, performed on several versions of the instrument, throughout the story of Stringbean's life and untimely death. A book signing will follow this very special presentation.