Dolores Hydock and Bobby Horton are bringing a performance called "A Sweet Strangeness Thrills My Heart: The Journals of Sallie Independence Foster" to Shelby County, Alabama in March 2014. The performance tells the story of Foster, a young girl who lived through the Civil War in Florence, Alabama, through readings from her journals and letters. Bobby Horton will perform Civil War-era music to accompany the emotions and events described by Foster. The performances will take place on March 22nd at 7pm and March 23rd at 2pm at the Shelby County Arts Performing Space, with limited seating of 100 chairs available. Advance tickets can be purchased online or by phone.

1. Mandy Steadman
15 January 2014
Shelby Living Magazine
Publication: March 2014
A Sweet Strange History Comes to Shelby County
“The only thing new in the world is the history you do not know.” This quote by former
President Harry S. Truman summarizes exactly what Dolores Hydock and Bobby Horton are
trying to bring to audiences all throughout Alabama.
Hydock and Horton have been friends for six years and have been working together to
bring the spirit of people from history to life. This doesn’t mean a history lecture on famous
people who did such and such at the great battle of a certain place.
They both are working toward bringing the real and normal people of history to life on
stage by telling their stories to audiences across the state. Their newest collaborative project is
called, “A Sweet Strangeness Thrills My Heart: The Journals of Sallie Independence Foster.”
Foster was a young girl who lived through the Civil War and grew up during a time of
uncertainty in Florence, Alabama. “It’s a really personal and unusual look at the war,” said
Hydock.
She said the whole project began when she found an article in The Birmingham News
about Foster’s great grandson donating her journals, school essays and letters to the University of
North Alabama. Hydock's eyes lit up in excitement as she recalled flipping through the pages of
the journal for the first time in UNA’s archives and reading Foster’s “loopy and gorgeous”
handwriting.

2. “I was looking for something we could do together on Civil War because Bobby is like
this master of Civil War history and Civil War music,” said Hydock. “I wanted something
Alabama, something that was a woman and something that nobody knew.”
On March 22 and 23 Hydock will tell Foster’s story through her journals, letters and
school essays as Horton performs music of the time period to accompany the emotions of Foster
and the events that took place.
“The joy of that particular period of music is you can find tunes that do exactly what you
want because music was that huge,” said Horton. This includes specific songs that are mentioned
in the journals that Horton learned how to play.
The performances will take place at the Shelby County Arts Performing Space March 22
at 7 p.m. and March 23 at 2 p.m. Seating is limited to 100 chairs. Please buy your tickets in
advance at http://www.shelbycountyartscouncil.com or call 205-669-0044.
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