(Posted March 12, 2007)

HUNTINGDON, Pa. -- La Guitara, a trio of female guitarists, all acclaimed solo musicians in their own right, will perform a concert at Juniata College based on blues, Brazilian music and a mix of rock, folk and funk at 7:30 p.m., Saturday, March 24, at Rosenberger Auditorium in the Halbritter Center for the Performing Arts on the Juniata campus. For tickets and information about the Juniata College Presents series, please call (814) 641-3608. General admission tickets for single performances are $20, except where otherwise noted. Single-show tickets for seniors over age 65 and children age 18 and under are $12. Juniata College students are admitted free with a student ID. \"I have been asked repeatedly \'Why are there no great female guitar players\' and the answer is, there are,\" says Patty Larkin, leader of La Guitara, whose musical career spans such influences as Celtic, folk and rock music. \"It is my belief that women guitarists of the past played a role in the evolution of the instrument and that their story is largely untold. I also believe that there are women guitarists today who are actively changing our preconceptions about gender and guitar heroes.\" The three musicians in La Guitara are Patty Larkin, Badi Assad, a Brazilian instrumentalist with six recordings to her credit, and Ellen McIlwaine, who plays slide guitar and has performed with Jimi Hendrix, Johnny Winter and Cream bassist Jack Bruce. The trio of guitarists plays, an eclectic mix of music both together and separately. The concert will open with individual sets from each musician, followed by a set of all three guitarists collaborating on music that encompasses Brazilian sambas, Celtic reels and roughhouse blues. Patty Larkin came to prominence in the early 1990s as a singer-songwriter, recording \"Tango\" for the \"new age\" label Windham Hill, followed by \"Angels Running,\" \"Strangers World,\" \"Perishable Fruit\" and \"Regrooving the Dream.\" Her most recent work is a compilation album for La Guitara featuring more than a dozen female guitarists, and the solo work \"Red=Luck.\" Badi Assad is a native of Brazil, growing up near Sao Paulo. She comes from a family of acclaimed musicians; her father Jorge plays bandolim and her brothers Sergio and Odair, both guitarists, perform around the world as the Duo Assad. She released her first album \"Danca dos Tons (Dance of Sounds),\" in 1989. Her first albums released in the United States were \"Solo\" and \"Rhythms.\" In concert, she plays guitar and provides percussion simultaneously, while also singing and improvising. Ellen McIlwaine was born in Nashville, Tenn. and spent much of her school years in Japan, accompanying her parents, who were Presbyterian missionaries. In the mid-\'60s, she attended college in Tennessee and Georgia, absorbing the music of the Memphis soul label Stax, as well as the Georgia-based blues and gospel scene. She began a solo career in 1972 with the album \"Honky Tonk Angel,\" followed by \"We the People\" in 1973. She toured extensively with blues and rock acts such as Son House, George Thorogood, Laura Nyro and Tom Waits. By 1980, she was recording again with \"Everybody Needs It\" and \"Looking for Trouble\" in 1987. She remains a busy performer, touring in the United States, Europe and Japan.

Contact April Feagley at feaglea@juniata.edu or (814) 641-3131 for more information.