Big Night with Women in the Round

Award-winning singer/songwriters Ashley Cleveland, Carrie Tillis, Karen Staley, and Tricia Walker will come together for a special evening of songs and stories at GRAMMY Museum^® Mississippi on Tuesday, July 16, at 7 p.m. The original Women in the Round group will perform “Bluebird Cafe style” for Big Night with Women in the Round, sponsored by SouthGroup Insurance and Visit Mississippi. This special event will raise funds to support the music education initiatives of GRAMMY Museum Mississippi. Tickets for the fundraiser are $100 for members and $125 for non-members and include a pre-event reception starting at 6 p.m. 

Tickets are now on sale for Museum members and the general public.

Ashley Cleveland is a three-time GRAMMY^® and two-time Dove Award winner who has released 10 critically acclaimed albums. Her most recent album, One More Song, was released in 2018 featuring 11 songs, many of which are autobiographical and touch on themes such as addiction recovery, loss, leaving home, and more. Prior to that, Cleveland released 2009's God Don’t Never Change featuring songs rooted firmly in a “host of traditions — Black spirituals, folk songs, 18th century hymns, gospel blues, and jubilee.” The album was nominated for a GRAMMY in 2010 for Best Traditional Gospel Album. Three of her albums have been on Billboard’s year-end best list and, in addition to her own recordings, she has contributed background vocals on over 300 records over the course of her career. Cleveland resides in Nashville with her husband, Kenny Greenberg, and their three children, Rebecca, Henry and Lily.

Daughter to country legend Mel Tillis and sister to country star Pam Tillis, Carrie Tillis' talents and experience stretch beyond the world of country music. Her resume jumps from opera to Grand Ole Opry, and Broadway to big band. After gaining notoriety early on via performances with her father, she traded his legendary Statesider Band for an even bigger orchestra, performing her first love—Broadway's American Songbook—in theater and symphony concerts around the world. To her surprise, Tillis began getting offers that would combine her theatrical leanings with her country music pedigree. Leading a regional theatre production of Keep On The Sunny Side—the story of country music’s Carter Family—was a catalyst for other country musicals like The Tammy Wynette Story, of which she played several tours. Back in her hometown of Nashville, Tillis has graced the Grand Ole Opry stage and the Ryman Auditorium as a featured artist and with Studio Tenn’s hit Legacy series—The Hank & Cash Legacy.

A native of West Virginia who was raised in Pennsylvania, Karen Staley is a 30-year veteran of the Nashville music industry and has been involved in virtually every facet of the business, from songwriting and performing to touring, recording and producing. Staley’s hits have collectively sold more than 20 million albums, singles and downloads. Staley is one of the original mainstays at the Bluebird Café, the now iconic listening room popularized by the ABC TV show “Nashville.” She is also one of the pioneers of the “In The Round” format for shows. Her songs have not only been recorded by modern stars like Faith Hill, Reba McEntire, Trick Pony, Terri Clark, and Tracy Byrd, but also by legends such as George Jones, Dolly Parton, Tammy Wynette, Conway Twitty, and Brenda Lee. As a guitar player and background singer, Staley has toured with Faith Hill, Reba McEntire, Patty Loveless, Terri Clark, and Russ Taff. Staley is also a sought-after studio session singer as well as demo producer. Staley’s songs have been nominated for Dove, GRAMMY and International Bluegrass Awards. Staley won the ACM Song of The Year award with Tracy Byrd's classic “The Keeper of the Stars,” which was also featured on CMT's “100 Greatest Country Love Songs of All Time” TV special.

Tricia Walker is a singer and songwriter whose songs are steeped in the passion, pain and grace of the American South. Born and raised in Mississippi, Walker has become one of the clearest voices of her own time and place. Her music has been recorded by Faith Hill, Patty Loveless and Alison Krauss, whose performance of Walker’s “Looking in the Eyes of Love” earned a GRAMMY. A recording artist herself, Walker’s 2019 album, Crooked Letter, Crooked Letter Eye, is a collection of songs with a continued perspective of the South with lyrics and melodies that reflect her folk, R&B and storytelling influences. Walker’s instrumental skills earned her a spot backing Grand Ole Opry star Connie Smith, with whom she played for six years. She also toured extensively with Shania Twain and Paul Overstreet as a keyboard player and vocalist. Along with Pam Tillis, Karen Staley and Ashley Cleveland, Walker was a founding member of “Women in the Round,” one of the most celebrated foursomes at Nashville’s prestigious Bluebird Cafe. After returning to her native Mississippi in 2006 to become director of the Delta Music Institute, an entertainment industry studies program at her alma mater, Delta State University, Walker retired from DSU in the summer of 2019 and was subsequently awarded the title of Director Emeritus and has continued to develop new musical and creative projects for Big Front Porch Productions. Walker was recently honored with the 2019 Lifetime Achievement Award by the Mississippi Writer’s Guild.