Old Habits (8:00 p.m.) pairs up with Hank Smith and Lindsey Tims (6:30 p.m.) to share a night of FREE bluegrass music in downtown Raleigh! The evening begins with an open bluegrass jam at 5 p.m., and all pickers are welcome! The evening will also feature area food trucks, local beers on tap, and local vendors.
Old Habits got their start in 2003 when Craig Thompson, Lin Peterson, Bennett Thompson, and Brian English got together to pick a little bluegrass. A duplex across the street from Raleigh, landmark The Players Retreat served as both home to roommates Lin and Craig, and the original practice space for the band. Soon after, Chad Johnson joined the group. Over the next few years, Old Habits would gain momentum playing in small bars and occasional parties. In 2007, they recorded their first self-titled album at The Rubberroom in Chapel Hill. Eventually they added drums to the line up, and the band moved from old-school bluegrass to their current sound – a mixture of Americana, country and Southern roots music.
Kicking off the night will be a special collaboration by Hank Smith (of Kickin Grass) and multi-instrumentalist Lindsey Tims. Both musicians are part of Blu-Bop: A Tribute to the Music of Bela Fleck and the Flecktones, and both are also instructors at the Raleigh Music Academy. Smith teaches banjo, guitar, and mandolin; Tims teaches guitar, mandolin, bass, and drums.
Smith started playing banjo when he was 16 in his hometown of Florence, SC. Not one to limit himself to just one style of playing, Smith absorbed other musical influences such as jazz, rock, reggae, classical and of course, bluegrass. In 2002 he met Raleigh-based jam-grass band Barefoot Manner, beginning his tenure touring nationally and headlining their own festivals. In 2005 Smith received an endorsement from Deering Banjos, who built him the custom banjo he currently plays. Today, Smith tours with Kickin Grass as well as with acoustic soul band The Morning After. Smith continuously pushes the boundaries of what the banjo can do; he is currently writing a Concerto for Banjo with Kickin Grass fiddler Pattie Hopkins.
Tims is a multi-instrumentalist who has been playing and performing on stage since he was six years old. He performed with his family in the Tims Family Band for 13 years, and he has been a member of many bands over the course of his career, including the Jeremy Norris Band, Dreary Lane, Hotwires, Jan Johansson and Hicksboro Station. Tims currently plays with Rachel Koontz & Morning After, Blu-Bop, Acoustic Manner, and Johansson, Lassiter, & Tims.
