The Red Skies Music Ensemble ​combines music, theater and scholarship, 
making archives and special collections come alive through research and performance
Trudy Williams, Artistic Director/Curator 
George Boziwick, Curator/Music Director 
Rhythm & Rails
Trudy Williams, Author
​with contributions by Tracy Grammer

Presented by Historic Northampton

With songs toe-tapping to poignant,
some familiar, others rarely heard,
The Red Skies Music Ensemble takes
you on a theatrical journey
of times and tunes! 
​
Local artist Eric Kaye capturing cast and crew
at a Rhythm & Rails rehearsal.
A selection if his watercolors are
​on display before the show.
​

October 6 and 20:  7 pm   
Union Station, Northampton
125 Pleasant Street 

 << Click Here for TICKETS >>

Historic Northampton presents:
​
Rhythm & Rails
Northampton and the Railroad:
A Social History in Tales and Tunes

Trudy Williams, Author & Director
with Contributions by Tracy Grammer

Red Skies Music Ensemble's Rhythm & Rails combines railroad-themed tunes, narration, theatrical cameos and archival images to explore the complex history and impact of railroads on the lives, livelihood, landscape and culture of Northampton and the region from the 19th century up to now.

Tunes are drawn from American roots, folk, rag time, blues, jazz, pop, and rock, and are performed by some of the area’s most talented musicians. The cast includes Jim Armenti, Jerry Bryant, Joe Blumenthal, Tracy Grammer, Ron Grosslein, Inde Francis, Rose Jackson, Cindy Naughton, Mark Roberts, Dan Scott, Tom Scott, Adrienne Wade, Rebecca Weiss, with Bill Cutler and Shirley Van Kanin, as well as special appearance by Maryliz Maldanado and Will Messier from the children's Corn Stalk Fiddle Choir directed by Cindy Naughton; and  Ujima Singers Ella Elliot, MawuLisa Thomas-Adeyemo and Min. Tyrone Bowie Jr., directed by Inde Francis.  

More:
In collaboration with Jim Armenti (Music Advisor) and Jerry Bryant (Music Director) on music selections, and Tracy Grammer on theatrical vignettes, public history playwright Trudy Williams drew on research and resources in the archives and collections of Historic Northampton, Forbes Library, and other local, regional and national institutions, to create a lively show that weaves together music, factual and interpretive narration, theatrical vignettes and historic images.

Here and across the nation, the inception of the railroads changed America’s history, and in one way or another, affected everyone’s lives. They changed the pace of life, the perception of space and time, the movement of people and goods, and radically changed the country’s economic, legal structures and socio-cultural engagements and exchanges. They brought a new (and at first very startling) backdrop of day and night sights and sounds of locomotives, tracks and train whistles, and they had a definite impact on American music.

Stage Manager: Kiersten Samalis      
Sound Engineer: Jared Libby.     Production Assistant: Aimee Letson​​
Picture

​   Corn Stalk Fiddles:
Soundscape and Place
​in 19th Century Hadley       
A toe-tapping tour of the entwined musical and
         social geography ​of 19th century rural Hadley       

​​Trudy Williams, Author   ​
Walt Whitman, William Sidney Mount
and the Sounds of the 19th Century
Trudy Williams, Author

​
Music and the Artistry of
​William Sidney Mount
Trudy Williams, Author​

Emily Dickinson in her Elements:
​Accomplished Musician,
Emerging Poet​
​
​George Boziwick & Trudy Williams,
​Co-Authors

Take Me Out to the 
Ball Game​
​
​George Boziwick & Trudy Williams,
​Co-Authors

About the Shows
Trudy Williams (Artistic Director/Curator) and George  Boziwick (Curator/Musical Director) create and produce research-based shows that are entertaining and educational for general audiences.

Through the Red Skies Music Ensemble's Public History/Public Musicology performance model, each show uses a humanities approach to bring research to the stage through the lens of music in an engaging, research-based narrative, musical and theatrical performances, and large screen images of archival documents and artifacts. These elements combine in a single ninety-minute setting to bring general audiences on journey that contextualizes historical and cultural facts, insights and interpretations, many of which have been hidden in plain sight, omitted or dimmed in cultural memory. Programs are free to the public and include opportunities for audience participation, and end with a Q&A

The Red Skies Tent
We welcome collaborative engagement with public and private institutions related to their mission, archives and special collections, as well as with affiliated and independent scholars, historians, musicologists, researchers and curators. Programs are designed to accommodate formal and informal performance settings.
< More: Red Skies Tent>

    Hear about upcoming shows, ask a Q or send a comment! 

Irish Traditions 
Hidden and Revealed
George Boziwick & Trudy Williams,
​Co-Authors

Performances 2010-2026 
Library of Congress; Lincoln Center Public Program Series at The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts; The Oberon, American Repertory Theater Special Programs, sponsored by A.R.T. and Harvard Houghton Library; Yale University Institute of Sacred Music; The Emily Dickinson Museum; The Long Island Museum of Art; Amherst College: International Emily Dickinson Society; Hadley Public Library, sponsored by Hadley Historical Society and Porter-Phelps-Huntington Museum; Forbes Library; Flex theater/
Northampton Center for the Arts 33 Hawley, in partnership with Historic Northampton; and Others.
Show Descriptions.pdf
File Size: 1124 kb
File Type: pdf
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Up Next!
​In partnership with Historic Northampton
Rhythm & Rails
Trudy Williams, Author/Director
October 2026 

The Red Skies Music Ensemble co-founders seek places
​for performance that share commitment to diversity, equity, inclusion, accessibility
​and indigenous land acknowledgement in their values and  practices.
Images: Amherst College Library, Special Collections; Long Island Museum of Art and History; The New York Library for the Performing Arts; Hadley Historical Society, American Antiquarian Society
​
Copyright 2026 George Boziwick and Trudy Williams                                                                                          The Red Skies Music Ensemble: Co-founded in 2010 by George Boziwick and Trudy Williams