Kick off the Midtown Bluegrass season with veteran bluegrass band The Boxcars and rising stars ShadowGrass! You won’t want to miss this exciting pairing of musicians, where you can see for yourself how bluegrass continues to inspire future generations to play music. The afternoon will begin with a facilitated youth jam with local musicians Lynda and Jamie Dawson.
In 2011, The Boxcars were named IBMA’s Emerging Artist of the Year AND Instrumental Group of the Year, maintaining the latter title for the following two years. With collective stints with Alison Krauss & Union Station (Adam Steffey), J.D. Crowe & The New South (Ron Stewart and Harold Nixon), Blue Moon Rising (Keith Garrett and Harold Nixon), and most recently The Dan Tyminski Band (Steffey and Stewart), this quintet started out with an impressive rap sheet, and when these accomplished players came together in 2009 to form The Boxcars, they quickly established a reputation for leading the way in modern traditional bluegrass. Award winning instrumentalist Ron Stewart will deliver rock solid banjo work, but will also lay down the banjo for the fiddle on some tunes. And Steffey has been named IBMA’s Mandolin Player of the Year 11 times over. The Boxcars recently added young dobro player and ETSU Bluegrass Studies graduate Gary Hultman to their lineup. In addition to the group’s collective instrumental prowess, The Boxcars also share strong vocal performances from Keith Garrett, Ron Stewart, and Steffey’s signature baritone.
ShadowGrass is comprised of four young players, ages 12-17, whose paths crossed thanks to their shared love for playing bluegrass music. Since meeting at local fiddlers’ conventions in 2014, they have been sharing a musical journey that has taken them to a variety of venues and festivals, where they play and compete together. This past fall, they performed on The Today Show iwhen Al Roker came through Raleigh as part of PNC presents Wide Open Bluegrass; last summer, they placed 1st in the youth band category and 5th in the adult bluegrass band category (out of 152 entrants) at the Galax Fiddler’s Convention. The band includes Presley Barker (12), guitar; Kyser George (12), bass; Luke Morris (17), mandolin; and Clay Russell (16), banjo. All of the members are award winning youth musicians. Although they have their own style, ShadowGrass is honored to be playing in the shadow of great bluegrass legends. Holding to their bluegrass roots, fast picking, and fresh arrangements have earned the band numerous awards in youth and adult competitions across the region.
Zeke’s Meats and Two Roosters Ice Cream will be on-site. And there will be a full bar available for drink purchases (21+ with I.D.) featuring Larceny Bourbon & Deep Eddy Vodka, Lonerider beer and Archer Roose wine. We hope to see you out there!
Thanks to PNC Bank for continuing to be the presenting sponsor for these concerts, and to Larceny Bourbon for their supporting sponsorship.
