Past Bluegrass Related Events

/Spire Center
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Parsonsfield

Spire Center for Performing Arts 25 1/2 Court St, Plymouth, MA

Parsonsfield, praised for making “the most jubilant and danceable indie roots music this side of the Carolinas” (NPR), is a folk-rock outfit known for their rich harmonies, vibrant songwriting and energetic live performances. Catch them onstage any night and the band’s joy is palpable. They trade instruments, share microphones, and shoot each other big grins. They sing in tight multi-part harmonies, their voices blending like they've been doing this together all their lives. That’s because Parsonsfield is a family band, not by birth but by choice.

$25

The Gibson Brothers

Spire Center for Performing Arts 25 1/2 Court St, Plymouth, MA

Bluegrass royalty Leigh and Eric Gibson step into what some might at first see as uncharted territory on their country-soul breakout Mockingbird, the new album produced by Grammy Award winners Dan Auerbach and Fergie Ferguson. The celebrated bluegrass duo — named back-to-back Entertainers of the Year by the International Bluegrass Music Association in 2012 and 2013 — played the Nashville game two decades ago, while in their early 20s, and were offered a major label deal, only to be told at the last minute that they were too “retro” for modern country music.

$30

Amy Helm (Acoustic)

Spire Center for Performing Arts 25 1/2 Court St, Plymouth, MA

Amy Helm sought what she calls a “circular sound” for her new album. It’s a well-rounded one, one marked by streaks of Americana, country, blues, and gospel, and the kinds of four-part harmonies that can burst open a melody and close the loop of an octave. And sentimentally, it’s a sound that represents the feeling of community. This Too Shall Light, released September 21, 2018 on Yep Roc Records, comprises 10 songs produced by Grammy-winning producer and songwriter Joe Henry.

$32

Loudon Wainwright III

Spire Center for Performing Arts 25 1/2 Court St, Plymouth, MA

Loudon’s long and illustrious career is highlighted by more than two dozen album releases, Movie and TV credits, and his autobiography, Liner Notes (2017 Penguin/Random House). In 2010 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. September 2018, Loudon releases his 27th career album to-date, Years In The Making, a retrospective double CD with more than 45 tracks – live performances, demos, outtakes, unreleased songs spanning 50 years.

$35

Aztec Two-Step 2.0 featuring Rex Fowler, Dodie Pettit & Friends

Spire Center for Performing Arts 25 1/2 Court St, Plymouth, MA

Following partner Neal Shulman's retirement, Rex carries the Aztec Two-Step legacy forward with his new ensemble. Their fresh multi-instrumental arrangements bring back the sound of the duo's original ATS studio albums. What people are saying: "I went to the show this past Saturday night. Wasn't sure what to expect. How do you replace Neal's guitar work? What a pleasant surprise!! Rex was Rex and the band was awesome! Don't miss the opportunity to see them!" “The energy and music were off the charts!” "Dodie is a Guitar Wizard!"

$30

inSPIRE Concert Lounge Series – Mark Mandeville & Raianne Richards

Spire Center for Performing Arts 25 1/2 Court St, Plymouth, MA

The Spire Center for Performing Arts is excited to present the all-new inSPIRE Concert Series in the Spire Center Performance Lobby. Mark Mandeville & Raianne Richards blend distinctively rich harmonies with a wide range of accompaniment (guitar, mandolin, banjo, harmonica, ukulele, clarinet, penny whistle, electric bass), featuring original songwriting, witty humor and meaningful audience engagement.

$10

inSPIRE Concert Lounge Series – Mark Mandeville & Raianne Richards

Spire Center for Performing Arts 25 1/2 Court St, Plymouth, MA

The Spire Center for Performing Arts is excited to present the all-new inSPIRE Concert Series in the Spire Center Performance Lobby. Mark Mandeville & Raianne Richards blend distinctively rich harmonies with a wide range of accompaniment (guitar, mandolin, banjo, harmonica, ukulele, clarinet, penny whistle, electric bass), featuring original songwriting, witty humor and meaningful audience engagement.

$10

Kathy Mattea – “The Acoustic Living Room” w/ Bill Cooley

Spire Center for Performing Arts 25 1/2 Court St, Plymouth, MA

Hailed by The Washington Post as ‘one of Nashville’s finest song interpreters,’ Kathy Mattea has enjoyed the kind of success many artists only dream of: two GRAMMY wins, four CMA Awards, four #1 country singles, and five gold albums (plus a platinum collection of her greatest hits). Grammy Award winning singer Kathy Mattea and her longtime collaborator, guitarist Bill Cooley, have shared one of Nashville’s most musically rich partnerships for over two decades. The duo meets as old friends, welcoming you into The Acoustic Living Room to share songs and stories near and dear to their hearts — including Kathy’s beloved classics such as “18 Wheels and a Dozen Roses,” “Where’ve You Been?,” and many other hits, plus a handful of more eclectic and often requested tunes from her extensive catalogue, and a sprinkling of brand new material, all reinterpreted for the duo format. Her 18 albums are woven through with bluegrass, gospel, and Celtic influences, and have garnered multiple CMA, ACM, and Grammy Awards. A genuine storyteller, Kathy draws inspiration from her Appalachian roots and is a torchbearer for often overlooked musical legacies like those of Hazel Dickens and Jean Ritchie. Her most recent album, Calling Me Home, is a collection of songs that celebrates the Appalachian culture of her native West Virginia and expands the vocabulary of acoustic roots music that has always served as her artistic center.  web: www.mattea.com

$46

Darrell Scott

Spire Center for Performing Arts 25 1/2 Court St, Plymouth, MA

Multi-Instrumentalist and Singer-Songwriter Darrell Scott mines and cultivates the everyday moments, taking the rote, menial, mundane, and allowing it to be surreal, ever poignant, and candidly honest, lilting, blooming, and resonating. The words he fosters allow us to make sense of the world, what is at stake here, and our place in it. And ultimately, Darrell knows the sole truth of life is that love is all that matters, that we don’t always get it right, but that’s the instinctive and requisite circuitous allure of things, why we forever chase it, and why it is held sacred. There is an absence of light, before the light.  A simple bare stage in the waning gloaming, and I can see Darrell make his way to a lone microphone.  He is here to shine that light on matters of the heart─the grit, grease, gristle, and most importantly, the marrow beneath the breastbone.And what is the path that shapes us as we go along, those true defining moments without which we would be hollow versions of our current selves?  For Darrell, it was coming from a musical family with a father who had him smitten with guitars by the age of 4, alongside a brother who played Jerry Reed style as well.  From there, things only ramped up with literature and poetry endeavors while a student at Tufts University, along with playing his way through life.  This would never change. When those hands of his make their way across the strings and fretboard, there is palpable loss of air in the theater, as the listeners, our feet and bodies firmly on the ground, watch his sonic wings take him upwards in flight, and realize we are as along for … Read More »

$27

inSPIRE Concert Lounge Series – Cold Chocolate

Spire Center for Performing Arts 25 1/2 Court St, Plymouth, MA

The Spire Center for Performing Arts is excited to present the all-new inSPIRE Concert Series in the Spire Center Performance Lobby. Cold Chocolate is a genre-bending Americana band that fuses folk, funk, and bluegrass to create a unique sound all their own. Featuring Ethan Robbins on guitar, Ariel Bernstein on percussion, and backed by some of the root's music scene's finest players, this group from Boston is impressing audiences throughout New England and beyond. Punctuated by tight harmonies and skillful musicianship, and...

$10