The Earls of Leicester

Friday, March 1, 2019 at 8PM at Emelin Theatre

When the Earls of Leicester formed in 2013, their mission was ambitious but exact: to preserve and promote the legacy of bluegrass legends Lester Flatt and Earl Scruggs, in hopes of reviving the duo’s music for long-time admirers and introducing a new generation to their genre-defining sound. Within a year of releasing their self-titled debut, the Nashville-based six-piece far surpassed their own expectations, winning a Grammy Award for Best Bluegrass Album and earning six awards from the International Bluegrass Music Association. Now, with their first live album, Earls of Leicester offer up a selection of songs that fully capture the pure joy and supreme musicianship that propel their every performance.

For Jerry Douglas — a 14-time Grammy Award-winner who founded the Earls of Leicester and produces all their material the most rewarding aspect of Earls of Leicester lies in playing for a live audience and witnessing their reaction firsthand. “One of the biggest payoffs for me is playing this music for young people, and watching them fall in love with it,” he says. “And even better than that is having the older folks come up to me and tell me, ‘I never thought I’d get to hear that music again.’ That’s when I know when we’ve really done our job.”

“This music conjures up my childhood—it drops me off into a kinder, gentler place, and I think it should do that for everybody,” says Douglas. “When people come to see us, we want them to forget about the outside world and all the stress or strife that goes along with it, and hopefully hold onto that feeling for a while even after the show’s over.”

Barry Bales (bass, vocals) – Shawn Camp (guitar, lead vocals) – Charlie Cushman (banjo, guitars) – Jerry Douglas (Dobro, vocals) – Johnny Warren (fiddle, bass vocals) – Jeff White (mandolin, vocals)

Accolades:

"Holy Moly...people need to hear this music again, and The Earls of Leicester deliver it!" -- Tommy Emmanuel

"The Earls have taken this music, deconstructing the essence of the melody and the lyric, and reassembling it for a new generation of listeners. The result is music that sounds as vital as any kind of popular music being made today." -- NPR Fresh Air

"Once again, the Earls of Leicester do Flatt & Scruggs justice in a consistently entertaining way." -- Wall Street Journal


"It takes a certain amount of credibility - not to mention just pure chutzpah - to assemble a band with the sole intent to emulate one of the greatest bluegrass groups of all times, specifically, the archetypical ensemble helmed by Lester Flatt and Earl Scruggs that was known as the Foggy Mountain Boys. If anyone was up to that challenge, it had to be Jerry Douglas, whose skill on resonator and lap steel guitar has made him the go-to guy in today's music circles." -- No Depression

"Charlie Cushman (banjo, guitar) is astonishingly good, but more than that, he's well-matched by Barry Bales (bass), Shawn Camp (lead vocals, guitar), Johnny Warren (fiddle), and Jeff White (mandolin), and surpassed only by Jerry Douglas, who remains the greatest player the Dobro has ever known." -- Acoustic Guitar

David Bromberg Big Band

with special guest Loudon Wainwright III

Saturday, November 10, 2018 at 8PM at the Troy Savings Bank Music Hall

It is all about the blues for Americana godfather David Bromberg.  He has played with everyone, toured everywhere, and can lead a raucous big band or hold an audience silent with a solo acoustic blues. He is the master of multiple stringed instruments that he uses to guide audiences on an incredible musical journey. For his performance at the Hall, Bromberg is joined by his Big Band.

Born in Philadelphia in 1945 and raised in Tarrytown, NY, “as a kid I listened to rock ’n’ roll and whatever else was on the radio,” says Bromberg. “I discovered Pete Seeger and The Weavers and, through them, Reverend Gary Davis. I then discovered Big Bill Broonzy, who led me to Muddy Waters and the Chicago blues. This was more or less the same time I discovered Flatt and Scruggs, which led to Bill Monroe and Doc Watson.” 

Bromberg began studying guitar-playing when he was 13 and eventually enrolled in Columbia University as a musicology major. The call of the Greenwich Village folk scene in the mid-60s drew David to the downtown clubs and coffeehouses, where he could watch and learn from the best performers, including primary sources such as his inspiration and teacher, the Reverend Gary Davis. 

His incredible journey spans five-and-a-half decades, and includes adventures with Bob Dylan, George Harrison, Jerry Garcia.  A musician’s musician, Bromberg’s mastery of several stringed instruments (guitar, fiddle, Dobro, mandolin), and multiple styles is legendary, leading Dr. John to declare him an American icon.  In producing John Hartford’s hugely influential Aereo-Plain LP, Bromberg even co-invented a genre: Newgrass. 

During a period of self-imposed exile from his passion (1980-2002), he opened a shop in Wilmington, Delaware, called David Bromberg Fine Violins, and became a renowned violin expert.  In 2002 he made a triumphant return to music-making and since then has been unstoppable!  Bromberg’s musical revitalization has him playing shows on his own, or with his own David Bromberg Quartet.  He also has reunions of the David Bromberg Big Band, which we are thrilled to host onstage here at the Hall.  Listen for that joyful noise – David Bromberg’s back!   

http://www.davidbromberg.net/

Bromberg’s special guest for this performance is Loudon Wainwright.  Wainwright’s long and illustrious career is highlighted by more than two dozen album releases, movie and TV credits, and now his new autobiography, Liner Notes (2017 Penguin/Random House).  In 2010  he won a Grammy for Best Traditional Folk Album for High Wide & Handsome: The Charlie Poole Project.  His 2012 recording, Older Than My Old Man Now, was named one of NPR’s Top 10 Albums of the Year.  In 2014, Haven’t Got the Blues (Yet), marks his the 26th career release to-date.

Wainwright is perhaps best known for the novelty song “Dead Skunk (in the Middle of the Road)”, and for playing Captain Calvin Spalding, the “singing surgeon”, on the American television show, M*A*S*H. 

His songs have been recorded by Bonnie Raitt, Johnny Cash, Earl Scruggs, Kate & Anna McGarrigle, Rufus Wainwright, and Mose Allison.  He has collaborated with songwriter/producer Joe Henry, on the music for Judd Apatow’s hit movie Knocked Up.  Loudon penned music for the British theatrical adaptation of the Carl Hiaasen novel Lucky You.  He composed topical songs for NPR’s Morning Edition and All Things Considered and ABC’s Nightline, and recorded several songs for the soundtrack of HBO’s Boardwalk Empire.

 As an actor, Wainwright has appeared in films directed by Martin Scorsese, Hal Ashby, Christopher Guest, Tim Burton, Cameron Crowe, and Judd Apatow.

http://www.lw3.com/

David Bromberg Big Band w/ very special guest Tom Rush

September 15, 2018, 8:00pm - 10:00pm

An evening with two of the most celebrated artists of the Americana tradition. David Bromberg’s incredible journey spans five-and-a-half decades, and includes – but is not limited to – adventures with Bob Dylan, George Harrison, Jerry Garcia, and music and life lessons from seminal blues guitarist Reverend Gary Davis, who claimed the young Bromberg as a son. A musician’s musician, Bromberg’s mastery of several stringed instruments (guitar, fiddle, Dobro, mandolin), and multiple styles is legendary, leading Dr. John to declare him an American icon. Tom Rush’s impact on the American music scene has been profound. He helped shape the folk revival in the ’60s and the renaissance of the ’80s and ’90s, his music having left its stamp on generations of artists. James Taylor, Emmylou Harris, Tom Petty and Garth Brooks have cited Tom as major influences. His early recordings introduced the world to the work of Joni Mitchell, Jackson Browne, and James Taylor.