This year’s Pickin’ in the Plaza series kicks off on June 2 with Raleigh’s own Hank, Pattie, & The Current taking the stage at 8:30 p.m. Make a night of it with Kate Rhudy (6:45 p.m.) and Eric Scholz (5:45 p.m.). We’re excited for another great summer of music in downtown Raleigh!
Hank, Pattie, & The Current use traditional bluegrass instrumentation in a nontraditional way. Two veteran North Carolina bluegrass musicians, Hank Smith (Barefoot Manner, Kickin Grass Band) on banjo and Pattie Hopkins Kinlaw (Kickin Grass Band, Long Bay Symphony) on fiddle and vocals have joined forces with some of the Triangle’s most versatile musicians to build a sound that weaves bluegrass into the tapestry of jazz, blues, and classical styles. With Ben Parker on guitar on vocals, Robert Thornhill on mandolin and vocals, and E. Scott Warren on bass, this band creates modern American acoustic music featuring the full range of their talents as composers and arrangers. The band is on tour regionally and nationally in 2016 in support of their new, self titled album on Robust Records. The arrangements take on a new level of maturation that follows in the footsteps of Bela Fleck, Mark O’Connor, Chris Thile, Sam Bush, Edgar Meyer, and Tony Rice. Hank, Pattie & The Current want to pick up where seminal crossover groups like The Punch Brothers, Strength In Numbers and the ever changing Bluegrass Allstars call home.
Kate Rhudy is originally from Raleigh and now based in Boone. Last year, she released her debut EP, New River Something, which she recorded at Appalachian State studios by Jordan Dylan Bailey. Rhudy is a junior music industry major at Appalachian State University, and she has performed alongside bands like Andy Ferrell and the Oncoming Train and Holy Ghost Tent Revival.
Raleigh folk musician Eric Scholz will be Pickin’ in the Plaza’s musician-in-residence this year – he’ll be the first performer at each Pickin’ event. Scholz wanted to be a rock star. After hearing an English singer-songwriter by the name of Nick Drake, music meant something more to him entirely. He cites Bruce Springsteen, Tom Petty, John Prine, and Bob Dylan as other musicians who have influenced his music.
