The first DC Bluegrass Festival will be held Saturday, March 27, 2010 at Langley High School (6520 Georgetown Pike in McLean, VA 22101) from 1pm to 9pm.
Headlining the festival is the band Mountain Heart. Also appearing are Michael Cleveland and Flamekeeper, Bill Emerson and Sweet Dixie, Country Current, Frank Solivan & Dirty Kitchen, Walt Michael & Company and the Patuxent Partners.
The festival will feature instrument workshops, a kids’ instrument petting zoo, food, craft vendors and more. Jamming is encouraged!
WAMU’s Bluegrass Country is proud to be the media sponsor for the D.C. Bluegrass Union’s Fall Concert, featuring Chester River Runoff and IBMA nominees The Gibson Brothers.
6:30 p.m., November 14, 2009
James Lee Community Theater, located in the James Lee Community Center
2855-A Annandale Road
Falls Church, VA
Tickets are $18 for DCBU members and children 12 and under; $22.00 for the general public.
For information or to reserve tickets, call (703) 916-0655 or go to DCBU’s website.
For Flecktones fans—and anyone who loves boundary-busting music by world-class players, here’s reason to give thanks early this year! The world’s best and most versatile banjo player, Béla Fleck, has reassembled the original Flecktones including harmonica extraordinaire Howard Levy for the first time in 18 years and the Strathmore audience will be among the few in the world who get to hear the masters play together again. “Waltzing through a whirlwind of jazz, classical, bluegrass, rock, country, and world grooves, frequently within the same song—mesmerizing.”
Wednesday, Nov. 18 2009 at 8:00 p.m.
Music Center at Strathmore
5301 Tuckerman Ln
Rockville, MD 20852
(301) 581-0084
Doubling as a wedding (DC-based documentary film producer Sara Parnell and local musician Joe Crosby) and a public music festival, Sunflower Fest will be held lakeside at the Rocky Gap State Park amphitheater right outside Cumberland, MD.
Show date is Saturday, October 10, 2009 (Columbus Day weekend) peak time for the autumn foliage in the mountains of Maryland, so guests will experience a stunning landscape as a backdrop to the lively music at the Festival.
Headlining the music festival is Joe’s DC-based band Scythian – voted DC’s Best Band 2009 by Washington City Paper – with its unique brand of gypsy/roots/Celtic/rock fusion.
Five other national and regional bands will play throughout the evening, including Bluegrass Undergrass (psychedelic bluegrass from Atlanta); Albannach (tribal pipe and drum band from Scotland); Holy Ghost Tent Revival (a mix of bluegrass and punk Americana from Greensboro, NC); Oneside (bluegrass fusion from Boston) and singer Rebecca Jean Smith (honky tonk funk from Atlanta).
Doors open at 3:30 PM; first band goes on at 4:15 PM; and music lasts until 11 PM. Sunflower Fest tickets are on sale for $40 per person online; special prices are available for students with current school ID. Door price is $45. Children under 12 are free. For more information or to purchase tickets, visit the Festival website.
The fest has become a tradition in Arlington, a tribute to Speedy’s lifelong achievements – all 91 years of them – and dedication to traditional music.
A respected presence at any American roots music gathering, Speedy Tolliver is known for his versatility, having mastered various fiddle and banjo styles including old time, bluegrass, Dixieland and swing. In Speedy’s book, anyone who plays music, be they master or novice,is “all right.” So, in the spirit of the man, the Fest isn’t really a contest at all – even though ribbons and prizes will be in abundance – but rather a non-competition that invites fiddlers and banjo players of any traditional style to perform in celebration of their love for traditional music. Speedy himself will play several tunes, and then will personally present ribbons to all participants. With Hubie King, of WAMU’s Bluegrass County as emcee, the 2009 non-judgmental judges are Virginia Master Fiddler Mark Campbell from Richmond, Va., and banjo virtuoso Patrick McCauley of Front Royal. Hubie King is a well-respected banjo player and roots music historian in the metropolitan area. He is the host of Bluegrass Country’s “Oldtime Jam.” Event takes place Sun., Sept. 20 from 12-4 p.m. at Madison Center, 3829 North Stafford Street, Arlington, VA. For more information call 703-228-1899, TTY: 703-228-1855 or check out the Arlington Arts website.
Nov 8, 2008 at 8:00 PM
Eisenhower Theate, Kennedy Center
Washington, DC
A Shepherd’s Table Presentation
A Tribute to American Acoustic Music features an all-star roster of performers including Mark O’Connor,
Tony Trischka, Frank Vignola, The Biscuit Burners, and others. The program traces the historical roots
of American acoustic music from its beginnings in traditional mountain and old-timey music, stretching
through folk music, blues roots–right up to the era of modern day jazz and swing.
The performance runs 90 minutes, without intermission
If you’re a fan of NPR’s A Jazz Piano Christmas, don’t miss this spectacular tribute to the music of New Orleans featuring separate performances by three “Crescent City” legends – Allen Toussaint, a pianist, singer, composer, producer, and Rock & Roll Hall of Fame inductee; pianist, singer, and composer Jon Cleary; and New Orleans–born Henry Butler, an eight-time Blues Award nominee.
8 p.m., Friday, Nov. 7
Music Center at Strathmore
5301 Tuckerman Lane
North Bethesda, MD 20852-3385
A natural-born storyteller and a master of multiple instruments, Arlo Guthrie weaves tales and tunes into a tapestry that you want to wrap around you and wear home. In this demand return engagement at Strathmore, the hero of “Alice’s Restaurant” sings songs from Lost World, his first album in 12 years, joined by his son Abe.
Tues. October 28: Bluegrass Country and GW Lisner Auditorium are giving away 5 pairs of tickets to Edgar Meyer and Chris Thile in concert. Enter the Giveaway.
Local guitarist Jordan Tice will open for The Infamous Stringdusters, the 2007 IBMA Best Emerging Artists, and winners of the 2007 IBMA Album of the Year award for “Fork in the Road.”
The Bajich Brothers–Tamburitza Music from Kansas
Noon, Wednesday, Sept. 17
Coolidge Auditorium
Thomas Jefferson Building, Ground Floor
FREE
The Bajich Brothers, Boris, Paul, Peter and Robert, are a Serbian-American tambura quartet from Kansas. They were raised in the Serbian community of Kansas City, which dates back to the end of the 19th century, when Serbian immigrants began seeking work in the five major meatpacking plants located in the area of the city known as the West Bottoms. One of the traditions these Serbians brought with them was that of playing tamburas, a family of fretted, steel-stringed acoustic instruments common to several countries in southeastern Europe. Tambura music (also known as tamburitza or tamburica, after common diminutives for tambura), has been played in ethnic communities in the United States since the 1890s. Since then, it has spread wherever there are Americans of Serbian or Croatian heritage, becoming one of the most popular and widespread ethnic music traditions in the United States.
Award-winning bluegrass legend Bill Emerson and his new Sweet Dixie Band will strum old favorites and future classics. Doors open at 7 p.m. for general admission seating. Pre-paid reservations are recommended and tickets are available for $15 at the phone number above. Parktakes registration dates do not apply.
Speedy Tolliver Fiddler and Banjo Fest
Noon – 4 p.m., Sunday, Sept. 14
Lubber Run Amphitheatre, N. 2nd and N. Columbus St, Arlington, VA
(2 blocks off Rte 50 @ N. Columbus, behind Arl. Forrest Shopping Ctr.)
FREE
703-228-1899 www.arlingtonarts.org
WAMU’s Bluegrass Country host Katy Daley will emcee the annual event honoring old time music master Speedy Tolliver. The fest has become a tradition in Arlington, a tribute to Speedy’s lifelong achievements and dedication to traditional music, and, this year, the celebration of Speedy’s 90th birthday. A respected presence at any American roots music gathering, Speedy Tolliver is known for his versatility, having mastered various fiddle and banjo styles including old time, bluegrass, Dixieland and swing. In Speedy’s book, anyone who plays music—be they master or novice– is “all right,” so, in the spirit of the man, the Fest isn’t really a contest at all—even though ribbons and prizes will be in abundance—- but rather a non-competition that invites fiddlers and banjo players of any traditional style to perform in celebration of their love for traditional music. Speedy himself will play several tunes, and then will personally present ribbons to all participants.
See Grammy Award winning Nashville Bluegrass Band and the Fairfield Four, The DC Bluegrass Union All-stars, Folk Legend Tom Paxton, Footworks and many other acts including oldtime, blues, bluegrass, African, Celtic, folk, Latino, Quebecois and Scottish dance and art at the Common Ground on the Hill Roots Music & Arts Festival at the Carroll County Farm Museum in Westminster, MD on July 12 & 13.
American Folklife Center
Noon, Wednesday, July 24
Coolidge Auditorium
Thomas Jefferson Building, ground floor
The Zionaires gospel group, who hail from the Delmarva Peninsula, will be performing as part of the AFC’s Homegrown Concert Series. For over half a century, they have spread the word of God through music to church and radio audiences on the lower shore of Maryland, Virginia, and Delaware.
