Diane Green

Description

Diane Green plays solo most of the time. She is often backed by her partner in public events, fellow artist Robert Buchholz. Depending on event, I can also be backed by sax player Rupert Glimm and others.

Work Sample

Train Goin' By is a song I wrote in the 1980s. The video was created during a practice session in my kitchen in Winter of 2022. I did have an incredible experience seeing a train in the the clouds one day when just looking up and hollering "Help!" when I was reaching a desperate moment. I know it was one of my ancestors letting me know that everything was gonna be ok.

This is a video created by my son, Casey McArdle, during the Pilsen 18th Street Open Studio weekend in October of 2022. The song I am singing is a cover tune called Bringing Home the Rain written by a band called the Builders and Butchers.

This is a song I wrote in the 1980's called "Shine" and I am singing it on this record. It was published on an album called Hoodoo Train by New Rose records in 1990. I was in an all-girl band. called the Hellcats in the 1980s.

I started playing guitar when I was maybe 11 or 12 years old. I took piano lessons from the time I was 5 years old until I started guitar. I sang along with many many albums and songs on the radio. I started writing poetry when I was in high school some of those poems later became punk style songs in the 1980s. The earliest songs I learned to play were by Bob Dylan and also Peter, Paul, and Mary. Although I follow a lot of various music genres, I am most internally connected with folk music, and blues as I come from Memphis. I was in 2 bands in the 1980s. I just love to play music and sing. Folk and Blues music continues to hold the most meaning for me.

History

Diane Louise Green (born May 28, 1957) is an American-born artist, musician, singer/songwriter, poet, and dancer. Throughout the 2000s Diane Green's paintings and other artworks have been in over 36 shows primarily across the midwestern U.S. Diane co-founded The Hellcats, a Memphis psychobilly blues group that began in the 1980s, with Lorette Velvette (Lori Godwin Greene). The Hellcats recorded several LPs and 45's in Memphis and toured the US primarily with Tav Falco's Panther Burns. In the late 1970s, Diane was in the University of Memphis Modern Dance program, as well as the Harry Bryce Afro-Caribbean dance company. She currently lives in Chicago IL, USA.

Artistic Vision

I was born an artist. I remain an artist. I will die an artist.

Programs for Specific Audience(s) Expertise

I am a senior at 65 years old. I have epilepsy from a traumatic brain injury I experienced in 1997. I have overcome a wide range of tragedies throughout my life including alcohol and drug addiction. This year I celebrate 25 years of sobriety. I am happy to share my evolution in arising from addictions.

Traditional Folk/Ethnic Artform Statement

I am American. The most recent immigrant came to America in 1827 and married a Cherokee woman. Many of my earliest known ancestors are various Native Americans born in the early 1600s in America. I grew up in Memphis in the 1960s. Some of my ancestors were slave owners, some of my ancestors were slaves. I have continually believed in equal rights throughout some rough times in my homeland. I sense my ancestors' hardships and continue expressing the need to create unity across the. globe as well as here in America.