COLTON -- The Colton summer music series kicks off with a performance by Dave Ruch, Jamie Savage and Sue Grimm Hanley on Wednesday, July 16 at 6:30 p.m. in the Gazebo located behind the Colton Museum on Main Street.

The trio of seasoned performers will present an mix of original folk songs, instrumental tunes and old traditional music of the region, with stories along the way. Banjo, guitar, mandolins, jaw harp, accordion, flute, hammered dulcimer, bones, spoons, and more combine with three-part vocal harmonies for a varied evening of music and stories.

All three were part of Mountain Lake PBS’s television documentary Songs to Keep: Treasures of an Adirondack Folk Collector celebrating history through music in the Adirondacks. In June, Songs to Keep won a regional Emmy award for Outstanding Documentary at the Boston/New England Emmy Awards gala. Dave Ruch was the music producer and concert host for the larger "Songs to Keep" project done by Traditional Arts in Upstate New York (TAUNY). They will have “Songs To Keep” CDs and songbooks for sale.

Dave Ruch, a part-time resident of Piercefield, is a full-time performer and teaching artist with a deep interest in the traditional music of the North Country. Jamie Savage, professor at SUNY ESF's Ranger School in Wanakena and avid outdoorsman, also is a musician who writes Adirondack and contemporary folk songs from his home near Tupper Lake. Sue Grimm Hanley is a multi-instrumentalist, singer, and music teacher originally from Oswegatchie who now lives in Saranac Lake.

Bring a chair. Refreshments, including hotdogs and hamburgers will be provided by the Colt’s Pride Booster Club. If it is raining, then the performance will be moved to the Pavilion at Swift Field off Sugar Bush Lane in the hamlet of South Colton and signs will be posted.

There is no admission fee to attend the performance.

Info: www.townofcolton.com and on Facebook via the Town of Colton and Colton Country Days/Colton Museum pages. Hard copies of the summer schedule are available at the Colton Town Hall and in the town’s two information centers.