South Dakota Humanities Scholars and Performing Artists Allen and Jill Kirkham from Custer, South Dakota, present a musical performance of A History of Traditional Western Music.
The Kirkhams present a mix of oral history and live music (acoustic guitar, bass fiddle, mandolin, and harmonica) of public domain traditional western music from the 1840s-1920s (trail drives and Black Hills mining era, Charles Badger Clark era), key classic western movie era 1930s to 1960s, contemporary western and original western music, with background and history behind the songs.
Allen and Jill Kirkham are Academy of Western Artists (AWA) 2019 Western Group of the Year Award Winners, and 2019 Legends of Dakota Country Music Hall of Fame Inductees! They are husband and wife Traditional Western Music performing artists from Custer, South Dakota. Allen and Jill are South Dakota Humanities Scholars and South Dakota Arts Council Touring Artist Grant Awardees. They are 2015 Cowboy Idol Winners and two-time International Western Music Association (IWMA) Award Nominee Finalists. They Feature singer-song writer Allen Kirkham on vocals, yodels, guitar and mandolin, and Jill Kirkham on vocals, story teller, bass, and harmonica. Allen and Jill are celebrating their 44th Year of live concert performance in 2023!
Allen and Jill's musical performance of A History of Traditional Western Music is sponsored by the South Dakota Humanities Council, an affiliate of the National Endowment for the Humanities.
