The Blue Ridge Music Center is welcoming back fan favorites Old Crow Medicine Show, The Kruger Brothers, and Steep Canyon Rangers for its annual Roots of American Music summer concert series. The lineup of outdoor shows is hosted on Saturday evenings, Memorial Day through Labor Day at milepost 213 on the Blue Ridge Parkway.
Old Crow Medicine Show will open the season on Saturday, May 23, 7 p.m. Tickets are $40 in advance, $45 day of show, $20 for children age 3-12. The Grammy-winning band Old Crow Medicine Show got its start busking on street corners and winning audiences along the way with their boundless energy and spirit. The group eventually found themselves in Boone, N.C., where they caught the attention of folk icon Doc Watson, who invited them to perform at MerleFest. Shortly thereafter the band was hired to entertain crowds between shows at the Grand Ole Opry in Nashville.
Since those humble beginnings, the band has been inducted as members of the Grand Ole Opry, and have won Grammy awards for Best Folk Album category for Remedy (2014) and Best Long Form Music Video for Big Easy Express (2013).
The Kruger Brothers will return to the BRMC, this time accompanied by the Kontras Quartet, who will also be opening the show, on Saturday, June 27, 7 p.m. Tickets are $30 in advance, $35 day of show, children 12 and under free.
Born and raised in Europe, brothers Jens and Uwe Kruger started singing and playing instruments at a very young age. The brothers were performing regularly by the time they were 11 and 12 years old. In 1995, they became a trio with the addition of bass player Joel Landsberg, a native of New York City. Today, trio is based out of Wilkesboro, N.C., and is known for an incomparable sound, that blends bluegrass with elements of classical music.
In 2006, Jens began a venture into the themes and forms of classical music when he was commissioned to write the work, Music from the Spring, for banjo, guitar, bass, and full symphonic orchestra. Since then, he has received three commissions to write classical pieces which The Kruger Brothers have performed with orchestral ensembles. In 2013, he wrote Lucid Dreamer, a chamber music piece specifically for and commissioned by the Chicago-based ensemble Kontras Quartet.
Formed while the group’s members were string principals in the Civic Orchestra of Chicago, the Kontras Quartet went on to complete a four-year chamber music residency with the Western Piedmont Symphony in North Carolina. The Kontras Quartet records for MSR Classics and has released three critically acclaimed albums. The first, Origins, features new and lesser-known works from the members’ home countries, including the world premiere recording of Dan Visconti’s Ramshackle Songs. The second, Lucid Dreamer, treads the line between classical music and American folk and invigorates Kontras’ ongoing collaboration with the Kruger Brothers. In 2017, they continued this collaboration with the release of the Roan Mountain Suite.
The Steep Canyon Rangers will make their return to the Music Center on Saturday, August 15, at 7 p.m. Tickets are $30 in advance, $35 day of show, $15 for children age 3-12. Hailing from Asheville, N.C., the Steep Canyon Rangers and Grammy winners, perennial Billboard chart-toppers, and frequent collaborators of the renowned banjoist Steve Martin. Recently, the band has teamed up with Philadelphia soul legends Boyz II Men and the Asheville Symphony to completely overhaul the Rangers’ original song, “Be Still Moses,” from their 2007 breakout album, Lovin’ Pretty Women. The group’s latest album is North Carolina Songbook, a recording of their live performance at MerleFest last year.
The Rangers are made up of Woody Platt on guitar and vocals, Graham Sharp on banjo and vocals, Mike Guggino on mandolin/mandola and vocals, Nicky Sanders on fiddle and vocals, Mike Ashworth on drums and vocals, and Barrett Smith on bass and vocals.
The Blue Ridge Music Center offers season passes for the Roots of American Music series. There are 16 concerts in the series. Full season passes are $175, half season passes allow admission for any eight concerts for $125, and Pick 3 passes allow admission for any three concerts in the series for $75. Season passes are available by calling (866) 308-2773, ext. 212.
For tickets and additional concert announcements, visit BlueRidgeMusicCenter.org.
