The Blue Ridge Music Center will host TopHouse and PigPen Theatre Co. at 7 p.m., Sat., July 18, in the venue’s outdoor amphitheater on the Blue Ridge Parkway. This year’s Deep Roots, Many Voices concert series marks the 25th anniversary of live shows at the Music Center.
TopHouse is a Montana-raised Americana/folk band, currently located in Nashville, made up of Jesse Davis, Joe Larson, Will Cook, and Andy LaFave. With fast-paced, high-energy foot stompers along with ballads that’ll make you cry, it’s kind of like a rock band married old-fashioned bluegrass and had a little baby they named TopHouse.
The band began as a duo in 2015 when guitarist/songwriter Jesse Davis and violinist William Cook realized they loved playing music together. The addition of singer, songwriter, and guitar/banjo player Joseph Larson helped vault TopHouse to local fame, with The Missoulian naming TopHouse one of the top 5 best new bands in 2016.
The band moved to Nashville, Tennessee in 2019 where they wrote, recorded, and released their second album, Snapshot, and were invited to be the house band for Tennessee Brew Works in 2021. Pianist Andy LaFave joined the band in 2022, rounding out the band’s sound. They are currently working on their newest music release.
Opening the show is PigPen Theatre Co. This band of storytellers began creating their unique brand of theatre, music, and film in 2007. They have since performed, produced, and licensed their original plays in New York and all over the world.
PigPen’s debut album, Bremen, was named #10 album of the year in The Huffington Post’s 2012 Grammy preview, sending PigPen on tour playing to sold-out crowds across the country. In 2015, they performed at Mumford & Sons’ Gentlemen of the Road Festival and made their feature film debut in “Ricki and the Flash” starring Meryl Streep. Following numerous regional theatre premieres for their original stage musicals and a three-year residency at New York’s Little Island, PigPen created the music and lyrics for the 2024 Tony-nominated Broadway musical, Water for Elephants, which is now touring nationally.
Concerts are held rain or shine. The Music Center is accessible to people with disabilities and offers assistive listening devices for use during concerts. Food will be available for purchase during the concert from The Bluffs Restaurant. Concertgoers are welcome to bring picnics. Alcoholic beverages are not permitted.
