Boston Bluegrass Union

Low Lily at MrSippy
2024-08-16 20:00 - 22:00 (America/New_York) | MrSippy BBQ, 184 South Main Street, Rochester, NH, 03867, United States
Ticketed Show
With the release of their new record ‘Angels in the Wreckage’ (produced by Dirk Powell), the Vermont-based American Roots band LOW LILY brings their infectious sound to a new level. With the energy of fiddle music, the introspective quality of contemporary folk, the precision of bluegrass, and the drive of Americana, the members of Low Lily (Liz Simmons, Flynn Cohen, and Natalie Padilla) combine their individual talents into one stunning soundscape.
Low Lily has shared their signature sound with enthusiastic audiences throughout North America and the UK, garnering two #1 songs on international folk radio and two Independent Music Award wins. In 2018, the band released a full-length album with 2X award-winning title track “10,000 Days Like These” and their original song “Hope Lingers On”, which has been sung by choirs around the world as an anthem for peace and justice.

High Horse at Passim
2024-08-20 20:00 - 22:00 | Club Passim, Cambridge, MA, United States
High Horse is a progressive-acoustic boy band featuring four friends, three bows, and one pick. A mix of celtic and classical music, it’s a band of brothers playing alternative rock on acoustic instruments, it’s a rollicking romp of great vibes, virtuosic chops, and tight vocals.
Comprised of fiddler Carson McHaney, cellist Karl Henry, guitarist G Rockwell, and bassist Noah Harrington; the band draws from their varied musical backgrounds to explore and perform original compositions and tunes from diverse folk traditions.
High Horse is based in Boston, collecting the skills and artistry learned from their education at the Berklee College of Music and New England Conservatory.
Their debut album will be released in 2024, produced by world-renowned mandolinist Jacob Jolliff and engineered by sound wizard Dave Sinko.

Thomas Point Beach Bluegrass Festival
2024-08-29 - 2024-09-01 | Thomas Point Beach Bluegrass Festival, 29 Meadow Rd, Brunswick, ME, 04011, United States
The 2024 Thomas Point Beach Bluegrass Festival is a second-generation Bluegrass Festival, and 2024 marks 45 Years of Bringing Bluegrass Music and Family to the shores of Mid-Coast Maine. The festival is a 4-Day event, starting August 29th, 2024. It features world-renowned acts and legendary late-night picking. It truly is a can’t-miss event, where the Music Meets the Sea!

GuitartownCT Presents Kenny and Amanda Smith
2024-09-06 19:00 - 21:30 | GuitartownCT, 166 Mather Street, Hamden, CT, 06517, United States
For twenty-three years, this duo has been thrilling audiences around the world with their singing and guitar playing. Multiple IBMA award winners, including several best guitar player wins for Kenny, and best vocalist for Amanda. They played at GuitartownCT twice, the last time in 2018, and we are thrilled to have them back!
Bring chair and refreshments.
Outdoor concert at 166 Mather Street, Hamden, CT. Tickets $35 at https://www.guitartownct.com.
In case of bad weather we will move inside.

Sierra Ferrell
2024-09-13 20:00 - 22:00 | Roadrunner Boston, 89 Guest St, Boston, MA, 02135, United States
One of the brightest young luminaries in roots music today, Sierra Ferrell brings a dose of beautifully strange magic to everything she touches. Since the arrival of Long Time Coming (her acclaimed debut LP for Rounder Records), the West Virginia-born singer/songwriter/multi-instrumentalist has earned the Emerging Act of the Year prize at the Americana Honors & Awards, collaborated with the likes of Margo Price, the Black Keys, Shakey Graves, Zach Bryan, Diplo, and Old Crow Medicine Show, and enchanted audiences all over North America and Europe with her high-spirited and dazzling live performance. On her new album Trail OfFlowers, the Nashville-based artist expands her sound while deepening the urgency of her songs, often revealing a wealth of wisdom within her wildly imaginative storytelling.

Michael Cleveland at Groton Hill
2024-09-14 20:00 - 22:00 | Groton Hill Music Center, 122 Old Ayer Road, Groton, MA, 01450, United States
From an early age, Michael Cleveland heard old-time and bluegrass music at local jams and festivals near his hometown of Henryville, Indiana. His grandparents hosted regular bluegrass gatherings at the American Legion, and at age four, he began playing the fiddle. He attended the Kentucky School for the Blind in Louisville, where he learned the Suzuki method of violin. While he practiced the violin at school, he played fiddle at home.
Cleveland had always dreamed of leading his own band and in 2006, he formed Flamekeeper, seven-time recipients of the IBMA’s “Instrumental Group of the Year” award, including Josh Richards, Nathan Livers, Jasiah Shrode, and Chris Douglas. In addition to touring with his band, Cleveland has performed with a legendary list of bluegrass greats: Bela Fleck, Tommy Emmanuel, Billy Strings, Vince Gill, and more. Widely considered the bluegrass fiddler of his generation, Cleveland has been recognized 12 times as the IBMA’s Fiddle Player of the Year and in 2018 was inducted into the National Fiddlers Hall of Fame.
His recording Fiddler’s Dream was nominated in 2018 for a GRAMMY for Best Bluegrass Album, and in 2019, he won a GRAMMY for his album Tall Fiddler. The same year, Cleveland’s amazing life of adversity and achievement was featured in the documentary film Flamekeeper: The Michael Cleveland Story. And in 2022, he was awarded the National Endowment for the Arts Heritage Fellowship.

Bluegrass Jam at The Burren
2024-09-28 14:00 - 17:00 | The Burren, 247 Elm Street, Somerville, MA, 02144, United States
Fall and Winter schedule resumes!
Hosted by Frank Drake at The Burren in Somerville, MA
2-5 pm in the front room.

Jacob Jolliff Band at Groton Hill
2024-10-04 20:00 - 22:00 | Groton Hill Music Center, 122 Old Ayer Road, Groton, MA, 01450, United States
An alumnus of celebrated progressive bluegrass bands Joy Kills Sorrow and the Yonder Mountain String Band, Jacob Jolliff is one of the genre’s top mandolinists and a sought-after collaborator, sharing the stage with Darol Anger, Tony Trischka, Sam Bush, David Grisman, Ronnie McCoury, Michael Daves, and many others.
In 2022, Jacob was called on by banjo master Béla Fleck to tour as part of My Bluegrass Heart. He performed around the country alongside Béla and some of the top musicians in the genre: Bryan Sutton, Cody Kilby, Justin Moses, Mark Schatz, Michael Cleveland, Stuart Duncan and Billy Contreras.
Now, the mandolinist’s main focus is The Jacob Jolliff Band, a group of virtuosic pickers – Jolliff on mandolin and vocals; Myles Sloniker, bass; Ross Martin, guitar; and George Jackson, fiddle – who play Jacob’s original instrumentals and songs. They tour nationally in the US, Scotland, and Australia, and have released two albums, “Instrumentals Vol. 1” in 2018 and “The Jacob Jolliff Band” in 2022.

Worcester Jam at Union House
2024-10-05 13:00 - 14:30 | Union Music, 142 Southbridge Street, Worcester, MA, 01608, United States
We are resuming our monthly jam this Saturday at Union Music 142 Southbridge St from 1 to 2:30 .We are located next to Coney Island hot dog. All levels welcome.
Victor Evdokimoff

Jam at Timberyard Brewery
2024-10-06 13:00 - 16:00 | Unnamed Venue, Rutland, VT, United States
This is an open jam that consists of both a “stage jam” and a slower “side jam”. Hosted by members of the Pioneer Valley Flamethrowers. Please find us on FB for more details.
Timberyard Brewery – 555 East Main Street (Route, MA-9), East Brookfield, MA 01515

GuitartownCT Presents The Tray Wellington Band
2024-10-12 19:30 - 22:00 | GuitartownCT at Cafe Amici, 1640 Whitney Ave, Hamden, CT, 06517, United States
Saturday, October 12, 7:30 pm at Cafe Amici, 1640 Whitney Avenue, Hamden, CT.
Tickets $30.
Tray is a young banjo virtuoso, and a 2 time IBMA winner. His hard driving young band have their feet in traditional bluegrass, and their hearts in progressive string music.
Guitar/ Nick Weitzenfeld
Mandolin-fiddle/ Josiah Nelson
Bass/ Katelynn Bohn
Banjo/ Tray Wellington
Festival favorites, catch this rising star while you can!

Tray Wellington Band
2024-10-12 19:30 - 22:00 | GuitartownCT at Cafe Amici, 1640 Whitney Ave, Hamden, CT, 06517, United States
Based in Raleigh, NC, banjo star Tray Wellington has received a number of accolades, including two awards from IBMA — 2019 IBMA Momentum Instrumentalist of the Year and 2019 Momentum Band of the Year (with Cane Mill Road). Tray can now be found performing all over the country with Tray Wellington Band.

Eugene Tyler Band at Lizard Lounge
2024-10-23 20:00 - 23:30 | Lizard Lounge, 1667 Massachusetts Avenue , Cambridge, MA, 02138, United States
Eugene Tyler Band with Cannon Rogers and lighthearted live at the Lizard Lounge Oct 23rd.

Event is 21+
$15/$18 door
Doors at 7
Indie-bluegrass trio Eugene Tyler Band is, at their core, a road band, who’ve spent years cutting their teeth on the bluegrass festival circuit and clubs across the northeast. Their newest record, Low It Goes, captures the free-wheeling intensity of those live shows and showcases the cathartic, irreverent songwriting that has won them fans all over the country. As songwriter Eugene Gardner says, “You learn a lot about yourself as a band when you’re playing 3 hours a night, and it’s forced us to step up our game in a way that I’m really proud of.” Sharing stages with bands like Billy Strings, the Kitchen Dwellers, Driftwood, and the Mountain Grass Unit, ETB has carved out a unique voice in the bluegrass scene, with cutting, often humorous songs, and a fast & loose approach that calls back to influences like the Clash and Drive-By Truckers.

Dinner Concert at Seashore Trolley Museum
2024-10-26 16:30 - 19:30 | Seashore Trolley Museum, 195 Log Cabin Rd, ME, Kennebunkport, ME, United States
Celebrate the cool fall days with a delicious catered dinner at the historic Seashore Trolley Museum. Take a trolley ride before dinner! Dinner runs 4:30-5:30. Southern Rail’s concert runs 5:30-7:30

Southern Rail at Seashore Trolley Museum
2024-10-26 16:30 - 19:30 | Seashore Trolley Museum, 195 Log Cabin Rd, ME, Kennebunkport, ME, United States
Southern Rail will fill South Boston Carhouse at Seashore Trolley Museum with an exuberant blend of upbeat bluegrass and riveting vocals on Saturday, October 26. This event promises to be a full house, featuring lush harmonies, irrepressible good humor, and sparkling banjo, guitar, mandolin and bass, all with antique trolleys in the background. Come early to browse the wonderful exhibits and to take an evening trolley ride! Those who would like to also join us for dinner, you’re in for a treat! Seashore Fan Favorite For The Love of Food & Drink will be providing dinner in between the trolley ride and the concert as an option to our event guests.
4:30PM: Evening trolley ride departs from the museum’s Visitors Center.
5PM: Dinner by For The Love of Food & Drink is served inside the museum’s Exhibit Room, inside the Visitors Center. If the weather is right, enjoy dinner just outside the Exhibit Room on the trolley boarding platform.
5:30PM-7:30PM: Southern Rail performs inside the museum’s South Boston Carhouse, a short walk or trolley ride from the Visitors Center. Parking is available next to South Boston Carhouse for those with mobility challenges. There will be a 15-minute intermission with a trolley shuttle available to bring guests to restrooms in the Visitors Center.
Ticket options include the following:
Trolley Ride, Dinner & Southern Rail Concert (4:30PM)
Adults: $40
Youth Under 12: $25
Children Under 3: Free
Just the Southern Rail Concert (5:30PM)
Adults: $20
Youth Under 12: $10
Children Under 3: Free

Bluegrass Music Through the Years with The Splinters
2024-11-02 19:00 - 21:30 | Follen Church, 755 Massachusetts Ave, Lexington, MA, 02420, United States
The program surveys bluegrass music from its roots in early country and fiddle/banjo music
to more progressive acoustic music with the same instrumentation. The Splinters cover old time fiddle tunes and The Carter Family to Bill Monroe, Flatt and Scruggs, The Stanley Brothers, and other traditional bands, landing in more progressive groups such as David Grisman, Bela Fleck, and modern ‘old time’ like John Hartford and Andrew Marlin. Participants will learn about these different styles of music and what makes them unique, but part of the same fabric. We will also discuss the role of each instrument in the group and how that creates the whole sound you experience. There will be plenty of music involved.

The Splinters, a bluegrass and old-time string band from Massachusetts, deliver a relentless groove to accompany their tight 3-part harmonies. Tom Pritchard (fiddle) brings the heat to his fiddle playing. J Johnson (mandolin) adds a jazzy flair to his breaks. Chris Reckling (guitar, banjo) picks solid rhythm and punchy leads on top of Garrett Wallace’s grooving bass fiddle. A Splinters set veers from straight ahead bluegrass to traditional fiddle tunes and back, with the occasional detour into a modern song. They released their first album as a quartet, “Grey Owl”. Their second album, “In the Pale Moonlight“, was released in August, 2023. Both are available on all major streaming platforms and on Bandcamp.

Blackstone River Theater presents Southern Rail
2024-11-09 19:00 - 21:00 | Blackstone River Theater, 549 Broad St., Cumberland, RI, United States
Bluegrass is back at the Blackstone River Theater with fan favorites: Southern Rail on Saturday, Nov. 6th at 7:00 pm. Celebrating over forty years of performing, Southern Rail’s bluegrass is high-octane exuberant fun, with lush harmonies, irrepressible humor and sparkling banjo, mandolin, and guitar.

Southern Rail at the Bull Run
2024-11-16 20:00 - 22:00 | The Bull Run Restaurant, 215 Great Road, Shirley, MA, 01464, United States
Southern Rail’s concerts are high octane exuberant fun with stunning harmonies, irrepressible good humor and sparkling banjo, guitar and mandolin. Their repertoire is fresh and diverse, featuring lots of originals plus a kaleidoscope of cover. There will be a special concert dinner menu which is outstanding! Reservations are recommended as the room fills up quickly.

Jamvember 2024
2024-11-22 - 2024-11-24 | Sheraton Framingham, 1657 Worcester Road, Framingham, 01701, United States
JamVember is a weekend-long bluegrass “non-festival”
focused on jamming, jamming, and more jamming!
JamVember will be held on November 22nd, 23rd & 24th, 2024
(a.k.a. the weekend before Thanksgiving)
at The Sheraton in Framingham, MA
Lots of jams hosted by local luminaries and workshops too!
https://jamvember.com/ for pricing.

Molly Tuttle & Golden Highway
2024-11-22 20:00 - 22:00 | Groton Hill Music Center, 122 Old Ayer Road, Groton, MA, 01450, United States
On her new album, City of Gold, Molly Tuttle — joined by her band Golden Highway — shares a batch of spellbinding stories that span time and place: wildly colorful fables populated by gold miners and fortune tellers, true-to-life tales of love and loss and a fast-changing world, and a reimagining of Alice in Wonderland set in the backwoods of Kentucky, to name just a few. The follow-up to 2022’s Crooked Tree—a widely lauded LP that won the Grammy Award for Best Bluegrass Album, with Tuttle earning a Best New Artist nomination—the Northern California-raised musician’s fourth full-length album brings those narratives to a resplendent form of bluegrass rooted in her virtuosic guitar playing. This time around, the Nashville-based singer/songwriter/multi-instrumentalist chose to record with her live band — Bronwyn Keith-Hynes (fiddle, vocals), Dominick Leslie (mandolin), Kyle Tuttle (banjo, vocals), and Shelby Means (bass, vocals) — for the first time, lending a potent new energy to her exquisitely crafted sound.

Nora Brown with Stephanie Coleman + Dirk Powell with Amelia Powell
2024-11-24 19:00 - 22:00 | Groton Hill Music Center, 122 Old Ayer Road, Groton, MA, 01450, United States
First brought together by Brooklyn’s tight-knit old-time music community in 2017, Nora Brown and Stephanie Coleman share a rich musical partnership that belies their 20 year age difference.
Dirk and Amelia Powell are a daughter/father duo with strong roots in the bayous of Louisiana and the mountains of Kentucky.

WUMB Presents Twisted Pine, Damn Tall Buildings & Ali McGuirk
2024-11-30 20:00 - 23:30 | The Sinclair, 52 Church Street, Cambridge, MA, 02138, United States
WUMB presents Boston’s own Twisted Pine celebrating their record release “Love Your Mind” with friends Damn Tall Buildings and Ali McGuirk — all home for the holiday.
Doors open at 7 pm. Tix range from $15-20 in advance.
Twisted Pine / LOVE YOUR MIND
On October 18th, Twisted Pine releases its joyous third LP, Love Your Mind, on Signature Sounds Recordings. The title represents the quartet landing on a more expansive sound than ever, after years of touring, serious introspection, bouts of self-doubt, glorious bursts of creativity, and many after-hour festival jam sessions and pickin’ till dawn.
Co-produced by the band and longtime-collaborator Dan Cardinal at his studio Dimension Sound in Boston, the record is loaded with experimental production, fearless songwriting featuring input from each member, finely-crafted collaborative arrangements, playing that’s virtuosic and visceral. It’s a reflection of what the band listens to. It’s buoyant pop and delicate folk, raging old-time energy, and old-school r&b grooves.

Mr. Sun Plays Ellington's Nutcracker Suite
2024-12-06 20:00 - 22:30 | Groton Hill Music Center, 122 Old Ayer Road, Groton, MA, 01450, United States
Bluegrass supergroup Mr Sun performs a new interpretation of Ellington’s legendary Nutcracker Suite!
If you haven’t heard of the cheerfully named supergroup Mr Sun, you’ve certainly heard its proponents, four of the finest musicians on the American roots scene: Renowned fiddler Darol Anger, Professor Emeritus at Berklee College of Music, who has released many solo albums in addition to his work with David Grisman and Mike Marshall, and founded the Turtle Island Quartet, Psychograss, and Republic of Strings; Joe K. Walsh, mandolin virtuoso and vocalist who spent four years with the award-winning bluegrass act the Gibson Brothers before becoming solo artist and songwriter and Strings Department Professor at Berklee; all-around guitar genius Grant Gordy, a former member of Dawg Music guru David Grisman’s band; and the phenomenal Scots bassist Aidan O’Connell, who has backed harpist Maeve Gilchrist and countless modern Jazz heroes.

A Bluegrass Christmas at the Homegrown Coffeehouse
2024-12-07 19:30 - 21:30 | Homegrown Coffeehouse, First Parish Church, 23 Dedham Ave., Needham, MA, United States
A joyous evening of Bluegrass Gospel and Holiday favorites at the Homegrown Coffeehouse! Wonderful home baked holiday goodies during intermission. Not to be missed!
Note the new starting time for this season!

Andrew Marlin String Band / The Murphy Beds
2024-12-11 19:00 - 22:00 | The Red Room @ Cafe 939, 939 Boylston Street, Boston, MA, 02115, United States
Andrew Marlin is a songwriter and multi-instrumentalist from Chapel Hill, North Carolina. His latest solo record, Phthalo Blue, is out now. It features all original music by Marlin, recorded with a single mic at the Tractor Shed in Goodlettsville, Tennessee.
Eamon O’Leary and Jefferson Hamer (a.k.a. The Murphy Beds) present traditional and original folk songs with close harmonies and deft instrumental arrangements on bouzouki, guitar, and mandolin.
Red Room @ Cafe 939 Boston, MA

Bluegrass Christmas at Hopedale Unitarian
2024-12-21 19:00 - 21:00 | Hopedale Unitarian Parish, 65 Hopedale St, Hopedale, MA, 01747, United States
Celebrate the Christmas season with a joyous evening of Bluegrass Gospel and Holiday favorites at Hopedale Unitarian Parish! Wonderful home baked holiday goodies during intermission. Not to be missed!

Nefesh Mountain - Love And Light Tour
2024-12-22 19:30 - 22:00 | The Cut, 177 Main Street, Gloucester, MA, 01930
The New York based Progressive Americana group Nefesh Mountain Band has been hailed as one of the formative boundary-pushing ensembles in roots music. The band’s creators and dynamic husband and wife team of Eric Lindberg and Doni Zasloff have created a world and sound all their own; blurring the lines between Americana, Bluegrass, Folk, Jazz and Blues with a masterful hand as songwriters, instrumentalists and composers alike.

New Song presents Southern Rail
2025-01-18 19:30 - 21:30 | Newsong Coffeehouse, Bedford Town Hall Auditorium, 10 Mudge Way, Bedford, MA, 01730, United States
Southern Rail’s concerts are joyous and engaging with stunning harmonies, irrepressible good humor and sparkling banjo, guitar and mandolin. Their repertoire is fresh and diverse, featuring lots of originals plus a kaleidoscope of covers. Two of the band’s founding members (guitarist Jim Muller and bassist Sharon Horovitch) were recently inducted into the RIBA Hall of Fame.
Tix in advance and at the door. Doors open at 7. Great refreshments during intermission.

Bruce Molsky & Tony Trischka
2025-01-31 20:00 - 22:00 | Groton Hill Music Center, 122 Old Ayer Road, Groton, MA, 01450, United States
Two legends of the folk/roots world—Grammy-nominated fiddler extraordinaire Bruce Molsky and banjo master Tony Trischka— return to Meadow Hall for an evening of old time string band wizardry. The two will trade songs from their broad and beloved catalogs as well as the deep well of American traditional folk tunes, both well-known and recently unearthed.
Groton Hill Music Center
