“Main Street Souvenirs” with Scott Kirby composer/pianist/visual artist

Scott Kirby’s “Main Street Souvenirs” featuring “The Prairie Devotionals” and “Visions of the Great Plains” was conceived as a vehicle to combine musical, artistic, cultural and personal revelations into an intimate concert experience and visual art exhibition.

Traditional and original piano compositions are interspersed with short descriptions, narratives and insights into the connections between culture and creative expression, between memories and observations of an evolving and (in some cases) a vanishing America.

The Panida Theater presented concert takes place on the Panida’s concert grand on Friday, May 9 at 7:00 pm. The first half will include favorites from the American song tradition, piano arrangements of Western/Frontier ballads and fiddle tunes, hymns, waltzes, rags, marches and original works.

The intermission and post-concert reception will feature original drawings and paintings depicting “Visions of the Great Plains,” which compliment the musical program, particularly the content of the second half.

Selections from “The Prairie Devotionals” will comprise the latter part of the program. These “devotionals,” though not specifically religious, are infused with an over-all sensibility that is deeply spiritual, exploiting the visionary potential of open space and navigating the terrain of the topographical imagination.

The scope of this project, however, reaches beyond the domain of impressionism or romanticism, voicing a devotion to, and an affirmation of elements of traditional “Americana.” The small town life, the mystique of the Main Street, the “Heartland,” are all concepts which may seem abstract or even anachronistic amidst the toxic and frenetic currents of contemporary, technologically-driven, politically corrupt, and increasingly post-American society. But they have survived, both in reminiscence and in reality, providing a vital source of inspiration, historical understanding, and (for many of us) a source of identity.

In 2005, Kirby withdrew from public performance to spend time with his family, compose and paint. While living in France during this time, he completed 75 paintings and 28 piano compositions, including “The Prairie Devotionals.” These paintings and the new musical works set the groundwork for Main Street Souvenirs.

Kirby now lives back in Sandpoint with his wife Marie-Dominique and two daughters, Sara and Hear-Marie, and divides his time between composition and painting.

Tickets for this one time only, new multi-media project are $12 adults and $8 for students, 18 and under, available now at Pack River Potions, Eves Leaves and Monarch Mountain Coffee.