The Blue Ridge Music Center is presenting Bill and the Belles and ShadowGrass for an evening of music at 7 p.m., Saturday, July 16, in the outdoor amphitheater. The Music Center is located at milepost 213 on the Blue Ridge Parkway, just south of Galax and 30 minutes from Sparta and Mount Airy, N.C.
Bill and the Belles began as a project to explore the sounds between rural and urban music, between vaudeville and down-home roots, but they’ve arrived somewhere wholly their own. They revel in the in-between: deeply engaged with the string band tradition and eager to stretch those influences to contemporary settings. Bill and the Belles is Kris Truelsen on guitar, fiddler Kalia Yeagle, bassist Andrew Small, and banjo/banjo-uke player Aidan VanSuetendael.
The group’s 2021 release, Happy Again, isn’t exactly happy. However, the delightfully deadpan album is full of life, humor, and tongue-in-cheek explorations of love and loss and showcases what happens when a string band from East Tennessee lays down a session at Motown. It marks a new chapter for the group by featuring 11 original songs penned by founding member Truelsen. Early fans of the band were hooked by their singing, and Happy Again continues to deliver stellar vocal trio arrangements, honed by fiddler Yeagle, that nod toward groups like The Ronettes and The Shangri-Las.
ShadowGrass will open the show. The group started in the summer of 2014, initially getting together to compete at fiddlers’ conventions in Southwest Virginia and Western North Carolina. Over the years, they’ve become one of the most exciting young bands in bluegrass, winning awards and traveling across the country. While fully embracing the bluegrass traditions of the past, ShadowGrass is moving forward in the genre by incorporating each member’s varied influences. The band includes Kyser George on guitar, Luke Morris on mandolin, Clay Russell on banjo, David George on bass, and Madison Morris on fiddle.
Tickets are $20 for adults. Children 12 and younger are admitted free of charge. Advance tickets are available at BlueRidgeMusicCenter.org. Tickets can be purchased on the evening of the show at the admission gates.
Parking opens at 5:15 p.m. and is free. Admission to the amphitheater begins at 5:45 p.m.