Abingdon Music Experience presents January Jams at Barter Theatre, January 6-21, 2016. Now in its 5th year, January Jams brings nationally known musicians to perform in Abingdon for intimate concerts in the 500-seat Barter Theatre. This year includes hot up-and-coming acts like Mandolin Orange or A.J. Croce, Americana favorite Justin Townes Earle, and an entire weekend of bluegrass, including the legendary Del McCoury. Tickets range from $18 and up, and are available through Barter Theatre’s box office. Presented by Blue Ridge Beverage and sponsored in part by Eastman Credit Union, First Community Bank and Universal Fibers.
Ticket packages are available for individual weekends, or for the entire series.
All concerts are at 8:00pm, and doors open at 7:15pm. For a full listing of musical acts and dates, visit www.abingdonmusicexperience.com. For tickets, call Barter Theatre at (276) 628-3991 or visit www.BarterTheatre.com.
John Cowan
with DARIN & BROOKE ALDRIDGE
January 14, 2017 | Tickets $30
John Cowan, also known as the “Voice of Newgrass,” has been singing his heart out for thirty-five years, and his soaring vocals have only improved with time. A true innovator, John applies his powerful pipes to genres from country, bluegrass, and gospel to soul, jazz, and rock-and-roll – often within the space of a single concert. His ability to move fluidly through multiple styles, and carry mesmerized audiences on the journey with him, has set him apart as one of the most loved and admired vocal artists of his generation, not just by fans and critics but among fellow musicians as well.
Husband and wife duo Darin & Brooke Aldridge draw on the traditions of their native North Carolina, the savvy of a young, gifted band and their own dedication to ingenuity to create the most mature release of their career with their latest release, Flying. The duo has placed at the top of the charts on Americana/Roots, SiriusXM, Bluegrass and Gospel charts.
DEL MCCOURY BAND
January 13, 2017 | Tickets $55
For more than fifty years, Del McCoury’s music has defined authenticity for hard core bluegrass fans as well as a growing number of fans among those only vaguely familiar with the genre. McCoury is something special, a living link to the days when bluegrass was made only in hillbilly honkytonks, schoolhouse shows and on the stage of the Grand Ole Opry, yet also a commandingly vital presence today, from prime time and late night talk show TV to music festivals where audiences number in the hundreds of thousands.
Special guests Bill and the Belles With striking three-part harmonies and masterful instrumentation, Bill and the Belles skillfully breathe new life into the sounds of early country music. Lifelong musicians Kris Truelsen, Grace Van’t Hof, Kalia Yeagle, and Karl Zerfas bring to the stage an uplifting show unlike any other, full of humor, high spirits, and all-around revelry.
Infamous Stringdusters
with Special Guest BILLY STRINGS
January 15, 2017 | Tickets $30
At the helm of today’s bluegrass advancement stands The Infamous Stringdusters. Composed of Andy Hall (dobro), Andy Falco (guitar), Chris Pandolfi (banjo), Jeremy Garrett (fiddle), and Travis Book (upright bass), this acoustic quintet combines a collective skillset seldom rivaled, but often reveled. The Stringdusters’ resume includes six studio albums, four International Bluegrass Music Association awards, and a Grammy nomination, but their true brilliance lies in their passion for live performance. Intricate harmonies, cleverly composed arrangements and their profound commitment to presentation induces traditionalists and newcomers to stomp their feet on common ground.
“Imagine taking a hardcore heavy metal band like Pantera and cramming all that energy into the body of a 23-year-old bluegrass guitarist. That’s Billy Strings. He tears up the stage during his set, grimacing, growling, head-banging… It’s acoustic music with a punk edge and a lot of youthful enthusiasm and, oh man, that PICKING!” — D.L. “THE BLUEGRASS SITUATION”
JUSTin Townes Earle
January 17, 2017 (Rescheduled from Jan. 7th) | Tickets $25
Once compared to a man who wears many suits, in thirty-two short years Justin Townes Earle has experienced more than most, both personally and professionally. Between releasing four full-length-critically-acclaimed albums, constant touring, multiple stints in rehab, a new found sobriety, being born Steve Earle’s son, amicable and not-so-amicable break-ups with record labels, and facing the trials and tribulations of everyday life, it’s safe to say JTE has quite the story to tell. “Absent Fathers,” his fifth album (and first ever on Vagrant Records) serves as the perfect platform for such narrations. As a recently married, sober man JTE writes from a point of maturity and content we’ve not seen before on past records. “One day I just realized it’s not cool to die young, and it’s even less cool to die after 30,” Justin states as he reflects on a life past and his newly found clarity. What he’s created is material that’s raw, honest and personal in a way he hasn’t touched upon since his debut EP, Yuma.
Mandolin Orange
January 20, 2017 | Tickets $20
Lean in to Mandolin Orange’s new album, “Blindfaller,” and it’s bound to happen. You’ll suddenly pick up on the power and devastation lurking in its quietude, the doom hiding beneath its unvarnished beauty. You’ll hear the way it magnifies the intimacy at the heart of the North Carolina duo’s music, as if they created their own musical language as they recorded it. “Blindfaller” builds on the acclaim of Mandolin Orange’s breakthrough debut on the label, 2013’s “This Side of Jordan,” and its follow-up, last year’s “Such Jubilee.”Since then they’ve steadily picked up speed and fans they’ve earned from long stretches on the road, including appearances at Newport Folk Festival, Austin City Limits Fest, and Telluride Bluegrass. It’s been an auspicious journey for a pair who casually met at a bluegrass jam session in 2009. The passage of time, and the regret that often accompanies it, courses through these songs. But there’s also room for detours. Straight out of a honky tonk, “Hard Travelin’” lets the band shift into overdrive with a freewheeling ode to life on the road.
Parker Millsap
January 21, 2017 | Tickets $18
Parker Millsap didn’t know not to sing like this. Listening to old albums as a kid alone in his room, he didn’t realize howling like a Delta blues ghost readying the world for rock-and-roll isn’t how a skinny white boy from Purcell, Oklahoma usually sounds. In the midst of a world so fond of condemnation as entertainment, Millsap’s rootsy rock-and-roll poetry offers open-armed love of people and their stories. “I wasn’t prepared for the wild, vast power of his voice and his remarkable charisma. This guy can yodel, he can sing a soul song for real, he can preach and he wiggles his leg like Elvis. A star in the making.”- ANN POWERS, NPR
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