RALEIGH — Summer concerts and movies have been a North Carolina Museum of Art (NCMA) tradition for two decades, and we’re excited to launch another season of great music and entertainment. Our venue—the Joseph M. Bryan, Jr., Theater in the Museum Park—is situated in the heart of the Museum campus amid gardens, meadows, woodlands, and sculpture.
Presented with Cat’s Cradle, Brittany Howard of Alabama Shakes will perform at 8 p.m. on Sunday, April 26. Doors open at 6:30 p.m. Nü Mangos will open the show. Continue reading →
Raleigh, put on your dancing shoes because the boys of Scythian are coming back to town on Thursday, Feb. 27.
They have rocked the dance tent at the annual International Bluegrass Music Association (IBMA) for years, kept First Night Raleigh attendees warm and festival goers on their feet as perennial favorites at MerleFest and Bristol Rhythm and Roots Reunion, among many others.
Named after Ukrainian nomads, Scythian (pronounced sith-ee-yin) plays immigrant rock with thunderous energy, blending Irish-Gypsy-American string-rock, clever storytelling, catchy songwriting and humor, beckoning crowds into a barn-dance rock concert experience.
These Celtic rockers will bring their all-ages, high-energy show back to Raleigh’s Lincoln Theatre, 126 E. Cabarrus St. Tickets can be purchased at this link. Doors open at 7:30 p.m.
Chapel Hill singer-songerwriter Jonathan Byrd will take the stage before Scythian. Byrd has been called “a folk singer with the heart of a rock ‘n’ roll band.” Byrd is a preacher’s son, a Gulf War veteran and an award-winning songwriter from Chapel Hill, North Carolina, known for literary, outsider songs that have become campfire favorites. The Chicago Tribune called Byrd “one of the top 50 songwriters of the past 50 years.”
Scythian features tunes with gypsy, Celtic, bluegrass and Americana influences just in time to provide an appropriate warm up for St. Patrick’s Day. The band’s entertaining stage presence, band camaraderie and audience interaction captivates from the first note. Powerful vocals, fiddle, guitar, accordion, upright bass, drums are just a taste of the myriad instruments the quartet brings to its raucous stage causing iHeart Radio to state, “Scythian has reinvented folk rock in America.” And The Washington Post has called Scythian, “Washington D.C.’s most energetic and eclectic band.”
Tonight’s the night: the biggest night of the year for bluegrass musicians around the globe. All eyes and ears will be focused on the red carpet at the Duke Energy Performing Arts Center in downtown Raleigh, North Carolina, as the industry’s biggest and brightest stars head to the 30th Annual International Bluegrass Music Awards.
Nominees for “Entertainer of the Year” are Balsam Range, Sam Bush Band, The Earls of Leicester, Del McCoury Band and first-time nominee Joe Mullins & the Radio Ramblers. The five nominees have a whopping 24 nominations among them this year. Multiple nominations for Sister Sadie, Carolina Blue, Mile Twelve, Molly Tuttle, Missy Raines and Rhonda Vincent are also notable on this year’s list of nominees.
Can’t make it the awards show in person? The show will be broadcast live on Sirius XM Satellite Radio (Bluegrass Junction) at 7:30 p.m. EDT, streamed via Facebook Live and will be made available for rebroadcast by radio stations worldwide, thanks to the sponsorship of Chiesi USA, Virginia Tourism, Deering Banjos, Compass Records, the Bluegrass Music Hall of Fame & Museum, BMI, and Boston Bluegrass Union. A special red carpet live stream will be available on IBMA’s Instagram page as well. Continue reading →
If you are attending this week’s International Bluegrass Music Association (IBMA)’s World of Bluegrass conference and festival in Raleigh, North Carolina, you hopefully have a chance to catch one of Zoe & Cloyd‘s many sets as one the event’s Official Showcase Artists.
The duo — Western North Carolina natives Natalya Zoe Weinstein and John Cloyd Miller — have been on my radar since I discovered them at MerleFest. Fans of the former Americana trio Red June will recognize the Appalachian roots husband and wife duo that made up two-thirds of that group.
I continue to be particularly impressed by the fiddle stylings of Weinstein and the guitar and banjo talents of Miller as well as their gorgeous harmonies. Their traditional approach to their music take you back to an earlier era. If you like Mandolin Orange, you’ll like Zoe & Cloyd.
Based in Asheville, the couple have been making music together in various arrangements since first meeting in 2005.
I had a chance to chat briefly with Weinstein after the band’s set at Social Architect on Wednesday night and she said they were really excited to be featured again as IBMA Official Showcase Artists, an honor they haven’t enjoyed since 2016. In addition to performing during the week at the business conference you can find them playing at the free WOB StreetFest on Friday and Saturday in downtown Raleigh.
“This week is always a highlight of our year, and we are really looking forward to catching up with folks and hearing lots of great music,” Weinstein said.
At the end of their toe-tapping inducing performance, they rolled out a new tune, “Only Game In Town,” which lead Weinsteint to joke with the audience that during IBMA at least, this was NOT the case.
Zoe and Cloyd are using the IBMA’s annual event to release their third album, “I Am Your Neighbor,” on Friday, Sept. 27, on Organic Records.
NASHVILLE — Organizers of this year’s PNC presents Wide Open Bluegrass on Sept. 27-28 in downtown Raleigh, North Carolina, have announced the full list of performers, and performance schedules, for the annual festival.
The free Wide Open Bluegrass festival – part of the International Bluegrass Music Association (IBMA)’s five-day World of Bluegrass event, sponsored by Chiesi USA – brings bluegrass into the community, and introduces the music to thousands of new fans every year, with more than 100 performers on seven stages along Fayetteville Street.
Performers include a broad mix of local, national, and international talent. Stages include the Youth Music Stage – situated on the outdoor plaza at the Convention Center – and the Dance Tent, which features clogging performances, participatory square dances, and late-night open dancing Friday and Saturday nights.
In addition to the seven stages of Wide Open Bluegrass, performances at Raleigh’s Red Hat Amphitheater will be open to the public for free, as well, subject to venue capacity. A limited number of reserved seats in prime sections of the venue are still available for purchase, to ensure admittance for every performance. More details about the festival can be found online at worldofbluegrass.org/wide-open-bluegrass, or on the festival app, available for free download via your app store.
PNC returns, for the seventh year, as the presenting sponsor for the two-day Wide Open Bluegrass festival: “PNC’s support of Wide Open Bluegrass allows festival goers free access to all stages and makes this festival even more special,” said Jim Hansen, PNC regional president of Eastern Carolinas. “As the presenting sponsor for the seven years that Raleigh has hosted Wide Open Bluegrass, we are pleased that this event has become a flagship music festival and adds to our vibrant cultural scene. We at PNC look forward to celebrating a great weekend of bluegrass in downtown Raleigh.” Continue reading →
Featuring an eclectic collection of more than 120 acts, Hopscotch Music Festival will return for its 10th year on Sept. 5-7, 2019 to downtown Raleigh, North Carolina.
Hopscotch has been described as “America’s (secret) best festival” and “the premiere experimental and underground festival in America.”
Wristbands go on sale at 10 a.m. Thursday, May 23, at bit.ly/Hopscotch10
NASHVILLE — Organizers of this year’s International Bluegrass Music Association (IBMA)’s World of Bluegrass, brought to you by Chiesi USA and taking place September 24-28 in Raleigh, North Carolina, announced a change to the annual event’s weekend festival, PNC presents Wide Open Bluegrass. Beginning this year, in addition to the 7 stages of music that are available for free in downtown Raleigh during Wide Open Bluegrass, the performances at Raleigh’s Red Hat Amphitheater will also be open to the public for free. Continue reading →
Held Thursday, Sept. 27, as part of IBMA’s 2018 annual weeklong business conference and Wide Open Bluegrass, the party celebrating the best in individual and band achievement for the year was hosted by Hot Rize, the first group to ever win the coveted entertainer of the year award. Continue reading →
In 2017, Hazel Dickens and Alice Gerrard were inducted into theInternational Bluegrass Music Association (IBMA) Hall of Fame. With the exception of women who were part of a band, and usually a family band, ie. the famous Carter Family, who were inducted in 2001, only one other woman — Louise Scruggs in 2010 — has received solo recognition by the hall of fame organizers since 1991. And this week, songwriter Dixie Hall will be inducted as the fourth.
Let’s face it. Bluegrass has been a good old boys genre since Bill Monroe picked up a mandolin, Louise’s husband Earl Scruggs met Lester Flatt and the Stanley Brothers became the Clinch Mountain Boys. But as Bob Dylan once wrote, “the times they are a changin.'”
Fast forward to 2016, when Sierra Hull and Becky Buller became the first women to win Instrumental Performers of the Year awards for mandolin and fiddle, respectively. Hull came out on top in the same category in 2017, and Molly Tuttle, who appears poised to be among the next female superstars of bluegrass, won Instrumental Performer of the Year for her guitar picking prowess — the first woman to ever top that particular chart. Continue reading →
The fourth annual Groove in the Garden music and arts festival returns on Saturday, Sept. 22, 2018, to the Stephenson Amphitheater and Rose Garden, 301 Pogue St., in downtown Raleigh.
The 2018 Groove in the Garden lineup includes: Lydia Loveless, Loamlands, Pie Face Girls, Kate Rhudy, ZenSoFly, Tres Chicas, New Reveille, Reese McHenry, Blue Cactus, Emily Musolino, Kamara Thomas and Luxe Posh.
According to organizers, “The annual music and arts festival shines the spotlight on the incredible talent we have in North Carolina.”
In addition to live music, local food trucks, vendors and more will all be on hand. Beer and wine will be available for purchase. Suitable for all ages.
Find more information here: https://raleighlittletheatre.org/events/groove-in-the-garden-18/
