Nashville’s Music Row and New York’s Tin Pan Alley are hundreds of miles apart, but between them they’ve produced the lion’s share of America’s greatest songs. From Jimmie Rodgers and the Carter Family through Hank Williams and Loretta Lynn to Kris Kristofferson and Taylor Swift, country music has shaped the way Americans see the world. Now Tennessee Walt offers a fascinating lecture/concert on this often-overlooked slice of America’s musical heritage. Covering the origins of country music in the fusion of mountain ballads with the blues, the roots of rock & roll in country and R&B, the evolution of today’s country and dozens of compelling details (what was “the Big Bang of country music”? which Country Music Hall of Fame member once worked as a door-to-door lobster salesman? which won a Pulitzer Prize half a century after his death? which studied physics with Albert Einstein? which served as governor of Louisiana?), Tennessee Walt’s The Other Great American Songbook is studded with 24 songs, performed live, by Roy Acuff, Loretta Lynn, Willie Nelson and other greats from 90 years of America’s musical history. In its second year and already a favorite with Long Island audiences, this show stars Gayden Wren as Tennessee Walt. This informative, tuneful tour through our country’s musical heartland will have your audience laughing one minute, crying the next and tapping their toes throughout.