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“Be Loud!” With The Red Clay Ramblers, Tift Merritt And Don Dixon

WUNC | By Frank Stasio,
Anita Rao
Published June 4, 2015 at 12:12 PM EDT

A conversation with Niklaus Steiner, co-founder of Be Loud!, Ramblers’ Bland Simpson, musician and producer Don Dixon, and singer songwriter Tift Merritt

The Red Clay Ramblers are a decades-old and world-famous string band whose music brings together traditions ranging from old-time mountain music to New Orleans jazz.

They are joining forces with award-winning musical darlings Tift Merritt and Don Dixon for a one-night performance to support the Be Loud! Sophie Foundation’s efforts to develop new programming at UNC Hospitals. The foundation aims to better serve young adult cancer patients by hiring a full-time youth support liaison who will respond to the unique needs of adolescent patients.

Host Frank Stasio is joined by the Ramblers’ Bland Simpson, musician and producer Don Dixon, and North-Carolina native Tift Merritt, for conversation and live performance. He will also speak with Niklaus Steiner, co-founder of Be Loud! Sophie, about his daughter’s cancer experience and their efforts to honor her memory.

The Steiner family: Niklaus, Elsa, Annabel, Lucy, and Sophie.
Be Loud! Sophie Foundation /
The Steiner family: Niklaus, Elsa, Annabel, Lucy, and Sophie.
Tift Merritt is a Raleigh native and a singer-songwriter. She's teaming up with Don Dixon and the Red Clay Ramblers to support the Be Loud! Sophie Foundation.
Tift Merritt /
Tift Merritt is a Raleigh native and a singer-songwriter. She's teaming up with Don Dixon and the Red Clay Ramblers to support the Be Loud! Sophie Foundation.
The Red Clay Ramblers are a Tony award-winning string band. Here they are performing in the musical "Lone Star Love."
Red Clay Ramblers /
The Red Clay Ramblers are a Tony award-winning string band. Here they are performing in the musical "Lone Star Love."
Don Dixon is a songwriter, musician and record producer.
Don Dixon /
Don Dixon is a songwriter, musician and record producer.

Copyright 2015 North Carolina Public Radio
Frank Stasio
Longtime NPR correspondent Frank Stasio was named permanent host of The State of Things in June 2006. A native of Buffalo, Frank has been in radio since the age of 19. He began his public radio career at WOI in Ames, Iowa, where he was a magazine show anchor and the station's News Director.
See stories by Frank Stasio
Anita Rao
Anita Rao is the host and creator of "Embodied," a live, weekly radio show and seasonal podcast about sex, relationships & health. She's also the managing editor of WUNC's on-demand content. She has traveled the country recording interviews for the Peabody Award-winning StoryCorps production department, founded and launched a podcast about millennial feminism in the South, and served as the managing editor and regular host of "The State of Things," North Carolina Public Radio's flagship daily, live talk show. Anita was born in a small coal-mining town in Northeast England but spent most of her life growing up in Iowa and has a fond affection for the Midwest.
See stories by Anita Rao