The Blue Ridge Music Center kicks off its 2018 summer series at 7 p.m., Saturday, May 26, with a concert featuring Amythyst Kiah and her Chest of Glass, with Wild Ponies opening the show in the outdoor amphitheater at milepost 213 on the Blue Ridge Parkway.

Kiah is returning to the center with her band, Her Chest of Glass. A graduate of East Tennessee State University, she studied old-time music and music performance, which helped her transform into a well-rounded, captivating performer.

Kiah’s commanding stage presence is matched by her raw and powerful vocals—a deeply moving, hypnotic sound that echoes a distant and restless past. Provocative and coolly fierce, she crosses the boundaries of blues and old-time music through her modern reinterpretations.

Although they’re based in Nashville, Wild Ponies bandmates Doug and Telisha Williams get their inspiration from the music of southwest Virginia, where they were born and raised. Wild Ponies pays tribute to that powerful music and rugged landscape with the band’s latest recording, Galax. Recorded in the shed behind Doug’s old family farm in Galax, this stripped-back album shows their Nashville influences as well as elements of old-time music, highlighting their musical and geographic roots.

Tickets are $10, and can be purchased online at BlueRidgeMusicCenter.org or by calling (866) 308-2773, ext. 212. Season passes are also available online or by phone. Parking is free.