Bluegrass Underground announced their 2015 season lineup earlier this week, and tickets are set go on sale this Saturday, March 21 at 11 a.m. General admission tickets for the weekend taping of the PBS Season 5 sold out in minutes, so you will need to quickly jump on tickets to these upcoming events. In addition to the great lineup, BGU ticket packages come in various shapes and sizes, allowing cave patrons to pick and choose their ultimate experience. Most shows are on Saturdays at 1 p.m. (except Sunday, July 9), and the first group heads underground at noon. For more information, head here.
The eighth year of Bluegrass Underground in the Volcano Room of Cumberland Caverns will feature some of the biggest names in bluegrass, including Russell Moore & IIIrd Tyme Out; Lonesome River Band; and Mountain Heart, along with Americana icon Ray Wylie Hubbard; wonderfully unique, genre-defying artists like Ben Sollee and Frank Fairfield; and internet phenom Little Emi Sunshine, a ukulele-picking, 10-year-old blues and country belter from Madisonville, TN.
After the break, check out this season’s Bluegrass Underground lineup as well as a clip from Emi Sunshine’s 2014 Opry debut.
BGU’s regular concert season opens April 18 with IBMA’s seven time winning vocal group Russell Moore & IIIrd Tyme Out featuring the IBMA’s all-time top award-winning male vocalist.
May 2 is the return of old-time music master and multi-instrumentalist Frank Fairfield and Trace Bundy, an acoustic musician playing cutting-edge guitar instrumentals.
June 27 features cello virtuoso and songwriter Ben Sollee’s return. Considered one of the best musicians ever to grace the BGU stage, he’s got serious cred with alt-rock folks from his work with My Morning Jacket’s Yim Yames. High-energy old-time music revivalist Woody Pines will kick things off.
Sunday, July 19, is a very special BGU with The Annie Moses Band which features her family performing in an expanded string quartet format that fuses bluegrass, newgrass and Americana with the rich classical music tradition. The show will also include the young musicians from the Annie Moses Band’s Fine Arts Summer Academy program.
On August 22, it’s an anniversary show and a homecoming as BGU celebrates eight years of live subterranean music with The Volunteer String Band, who were actually the first band to play the Volcano Room. Opening will be Jimbo Darville and The Truckadours.
September 5, another BGU favorite, Lonesome River Band returns with Old Salt Union, a young progressive band out of Belleville, Illinois, opening the show. The band comes underground after a hot set in January at Music City Roots at the Factory in Franklin.
September 26 has two of the top progressive bands from west of the Mississippi with Taarka, who plays a unique blend of bluegrass, Americana, classical and Django-tinged jazz, and San Francisco’s Front Country, a band that features 2013 Chris Austin Songwriting Contest winner, Melody Walker, and hot mandolinist, Adam Roszkiewicz.
On October 3, it’s a legendary singer-songwriter who was Americana way before Americana was cool, as Ray Wylie Hubbard makes his BGU debut. Every RWH show is a bit mind-altering so putting him in the Volcano Room promises an afternoon to remember.
Longtime BGU favorite Mountain Heart will take the stage on November 21 with a show that runs from hardcore grass to full-tilt blues-rock. Previously mentioned Emi Sunshine will open the show with a set that people will be talking about for years to come.
More from Bluegrass Underground | Site | Facebook | Twitter |