American bluegrass/rock band Greensky Bluegrass has announced a new winter tour that will span the first two months of 2020. The band – known for bringing a rock-and-roll feel to bluegrass music – will be touring in support of their 2019 album All For Money.
Comprised of dobro player Anders Beck, Michael Arlen Bont on the banjo, guitarist, Dave Bruzza, Mike Devol on the upright bass, and Paul Hoffman on the mandolin, Greensky Bluegrass has been touring for the last 18 years, taking pride in their unique sound.
“We’re a rock-and-roll band that plays bluegrass instruments. Bluegrass is such a finite thing. Because you have a banjo and a mandolin, you’re supposed to do it a certain way. But we’ve always been ourselves,” said Beck.
This latest expedition will begin on January 15 and will see them tour throughout the Midwest and the East and West Coasts before finishing off in the South, with a performance in Atlanta, GA, on February 7and 8. The East Coast swing contains several stops in New York in January at venues like the State Theater in Ithaca, NYC’s Beacon Theatre, and Albany’s own The Egg.
Greensky Bluegrass’ remaining tour dates can be found below. While tickets can be found here.
Jan. 15 – The Pageant – St. Louis, MO
Jan. 16 – Old Forester’s Paristown Hall – Louisville, KY
Greensky Bluegrass has announced an expansive Winter Tour to kick off 2020 with stops in Ithaca, NYC and Albany.
With the first show in St. Louis, MO at The Pageant on January 15, the tour winds through the Midwest and East Coast, and finishing with a two-night stand at The Tabernacle in Atlanta. Ghost Light will joining Greensky as the opener for a majority of the dates, with another act being announced in the near future. General on-sale begins on Friday, October 18.
Ahead for Greensky Bluegrass this fall include appearances at Hulaween & Hangtown festivals, then an epic Midwestern Halloween weekend run kicking off in Chicago at the Chicago Theatre on Halloween, then off to Kansas City and St. Paul. The band will appear at ‘What The Night Brings’ tribute to Jeff Austin on November 4 then a duo of shows in their hometown of Kalamazoo, MI Nov. 29 & 30. Greensky will debut at Denver’s new Mission Ballroom on Dec. 6 & 7 before heading to Mexico for Cloud 9 Adventure’s Strings & Sol. The band will ring in 2020 with a three-night stand at The Riverside in Milwaukee, WI – with support from Horseshoes & Hand Grenades on 12/29 and 12/30, and a three-set Greensky NYE event to close out the year.
The band’s third incarnation of its Camp Greensky Music Festival is the latest confirmed 2020 date, happening June 4 to 6 in Wellston, MI, tickets are available now.
Greensky Bluegrass Winter Tour dates
1/15 – The Pageant, St. Louis, MO
1/16 – Old Forester’s Paristown Hall, Louisville, KY
With events in Colorado, California and Vermont, WinterWonderGrass Music and Brew Festival has announced the 2020 lineup across all three of their flagship events. Taking place in in Steamboat Springs, CO from February 21st – 23rd, Squaw Valley, CA from March 27th – 29th and Stratton, VT from April 10th – 11th, the traveling music festival will welcome performances from some of the hottest names currently thriving in today’s Bluegrass and Americana music scenes.
“It’s with a mountain of intention, huge hearts, humility and a commitment to delivering the hottest and sweetest artists that we present to you the 2020 WinterWonderGrass landscape,” expresses festival founder, Scotty Stoughton. “Each year, the hardest thing to do is not heed our desire to return to each and every band–and by virtue of that, friends to WWG–year in and year out. It is our sincere desire you’ll find new lifetime favorites on this lineup, have the chance to be reunited with old loves and step out of your comfort zone with open arms to new experiences.”
“WinterWonderGrass has become a home for artists, fans, staff, locals, businesses, skiers, riders, their families and all of the like,” adds festival Director of Marketing & Ticketing, Ariel Rosemberg. “We pride ourselves on creating a sustainable, safe and receptive environment, bound by the marriage of the best in bluegrass, folk and Americana, and the undefeated nature of American ski culture.”
Returning to Colorado for its eighth consecutive year, and its fourth year located in the pristine ski town of Steamboat Springs, CO, WinterWonderGrass presents headlining performances from Greensky Bluegrass, Billy Strings and Margo Price over its three days this coming February. Additional artists on the bill include Keller & the Keels, Della Mae, Travelin’ McCourys, Nikki Lane, Molly Tuttle, Horseshoes & Hand Grenades, Bluegrass Generals (Chris Pandolfi & Andy Hall of The Infamous Stringdusters), ALO, Lindsay Lou, a collaborative set from the WinterWonderWomen, Pickin’ on the Dead, Che Apalache, Cris Jacobs, Twisted Pine, Jon Stickley Trio, Meadow Mountain, Jay Roemer Band, Buffalo Commons and Bowregard, as well as special guests Andy Thorn, Jennifer Hartswick, Bridget Law, Pappy Biondo and Will Mosheim.
Over March 27th – 29th, WinterWonderGrass makes its way to the Tahoe region of California for its sixth consecutive year presenting three days of music at the base of Squaw Valley Ski Resort. Headliners for this festival stop include The Devil Makes Three, The Infamous Stringdusters and Billy Strings (two sets). Peter Rowan, Fruition, Keller and the Keels, The War and Treaty, The Lil Smokies, Brothers Comatose, Della Mae, Larry Keel Experience, Kitchen Dwellers, Andy Falco & Travis Book (of The Infamous Stringdusters) Perform Jerry Garcia, Cris Jacobs, Trout Steak Revival, Midnight North, Town Mountain, Pickin’ on the Dead, Pixie and the Partygrass Boys, Old Salt Union, TK & the Holy Know-Nothings, Rapidgrass and Twisted Pine also join the bill, alongside special guests Lindsay Lou, Bridget Law, Will Mosheim and a collaborative WinterWonderWomen set.
The Vermont stop of the festival takes place over April 10th and 11th at Stratton Mountain Resort in Stratton, VT. Previously held in December, this year’s festival stop in Vermont was scheduled to coincide with the ski resort’s closing weekend. Headliners for this iteration of the festival, billed as WonderGrass Presents: Sugar & Strings, include The Infamous Stringdusters, Cabinet, Della Mae, and Molly Tuttle. Additional artists on the two-day lineup include Kitchen Dwellers, Andy Falco & Travis Book (of The Infamous Stringdusters) Perform Jerry Garcia, Twisted Pine, Che Apalache, a special WinterWonderWomen collaboration, Saints and Liars, Dead Winter Carpenters and Damn Tall Buildings, as well as special guests Jennifer Hartswick, Bridget Law, Pappy Biondo, Will Mosheim and more.
Additionally, the Grass After Dark Series will return for post-festival programming with more details coming soon. Resort lift tickets, Mountaintop Dinner tickets (Colorado and California only) and Grass After Dark tickets are not included in regular festival admission and should be purchased separately.
Tickets for all three festivals are on sale now: | |.
This month, Caravan to Wondergrass events are taking place in Denver, CO, Tahoe City, CA and Manchester, VT.
The Denver event takes place on October 3rd at Cervantes Masterpiece Ballroom and Cervantes Otherside, with an October 11th Steamboat Springs presentation of The WinterWonderGrass All-Stars happening at The Depot Art Center.
The California Caravan takes place in the coming weeks with a Tahoe Food Hub Event on October 17th, and performances by Midnight North at Moe’s BBQ in Tahoe City, CA on the 18th, and Alibi Brewing in Truckee, CA on the 19th.
Vermont’s pop-up Caravan stop happens at the end of the month on October 26th at Earth Sky Time in Manchester, VT for a special Halloween-themed event, featuring music performances by Andy Falco (The Infamous Stringdusters), Saints and Liars and Terrible Mountain String Band.
A limited quantity of fee-free tickets to WinterWonderGrass festival stops will be available for purchase during all Caravan to WonderGrass events. Click here for tickets and more information on specific Caravan events.
Greensky Bluegrass brought their signature bluegrass with a jam twist to a sold out crowd at the elegant Pier 17 Rooftop in lower Manhattan. Residing in Michigan, the band members include Michael Bont (banjo), Dave Bruzza (guitar), Paul Hoffman (mandolin), Michael Devol (bass) and Anders Beck (dobro). The country boys felt right at home against the iconic NYC backdrop of the Empire State Building and Brooklyn Bridge.
Greensky Bluegrass on stage at Pier 17
“Past My Prime” from Shouted, Written Down & Quoted kicked off the first set. More originals followed with “No Idea,” “Living Over,” also from Shouted, and All for Money’s “Like Reflections” and “What You Need.” The band channeled the great Paul Simon and delivered a tasty bluegrass cover of “Gumboots” from the Graceland album. Next up was a more traditional cover of “White House Blues” by Charlie Poole. The set wrapped up with a well executed segue of Tuesday Letter’s “Broken Highways” into “It’s Not Mine Anymore.”
Anders Beck on the Dobro
Set two opened with more delicious originals like “For Sure,” “Uh Huh,” and “All for Money” from the album of the same name. Live at Bell’ s “Old Barns” preceded a nice sequence of old and new songs with “Broke Mountain Breakdown Reprise” segued into Jimi Hendrix’s “The Wind Cries Mary” before revisiting “Broke Mountain Breakdown Reprise.” Another All for Money tune, “Ashes,” was played followed by “Hit Parade of Live.” Guitarist Scott Metzger joined the band on stage, adding mind numbing depth to “I’d Probably Kill You” and “Don’t Lie.”
The crowd loves Scott Metzger on stage with Greensky Bluegrass
The band closed out the night with an encore of “Just to Lie” into Billy Joel’s “Big Shot” and had their fans yelling for more. They are one skilled team of traditional bluegrass musicians who aren’t afraid of new territory or a big city. Greensky Bluegrass will be back in New York State at the Borderland Festival in East Aurora, NY on September 22. Head over to their website for tickets and information.
Setlist
Set One: Past My Prime, No Idea, Living Over, Like Reflections, What You Need, Gumboots (Paul Simon cover), White House Blues (Charlie Poole cover), Broken Highways > It’s Not Mine Anymore
Set Two: For Sure, Uh Huh, All for Money, Old Barns, Broke Mountain Breakdown > The Wind Cries Mary (Jimi Hendrix cover) > Broke Mountain Breakdown Reprise, Ashes, Hit Parade of Love, I’d Probably Kill You*, Don’t Lie*
This morning online ticket mecca, CashorTrade, launched a Trader’s Protection™ program which provides 100% assurance – and insurance. Now, all #Embracetheface users including Gold Members have a full proof money-back guarantee on all tickets sold on the site. Not to mention, tickets are already being sold at prices “set to disrupt the secondary ticketing industry.”
CashorTrade is a rapidly-growing hub, sucking music fans into a “Face Value Movement,” unavoidably changing how we experience the concert experience. Co-Founder, Brando Rich praises his community for holding out for a one-to-one ticket exchange with likeminded fans.
Not only is CashorTrade generating a love of music and community, but it cuts the competition by a landslide – disrupting a $15 billion industry, taking on ticket giants such as Stubhub and SeatGeek. For Gold Members ($24/yr), Trader’s Protection matches Paypal’s 3% rate, which approximates CashorTrade’s credit card processing costs. Any free member pays 10% of each transaction. In comparison, secondary ticket platforms charge an average of 28%-45% on top of an already-inflated price
Fun Phact:In the summer of 2017, the website supplied over 50,000 tickets to fans at face value throughout Phish’s “Baker’s Dozen” shows, amounting to nearly 25% of all the seats at Madison Square Garden during the 13-night run.
For their Winter Tour opener in support of the upcoming album All For Money, Greensky Bluegrass found an enthusiastic welcoming crowd at The Palace Theatre in Albany on Thursday, January 10. Fan familiarity has grown greatly throughout New York in the past few years with two memorable shows at The Egg (the latter of which sold out), and now, a tremendous show at The Palace in Albany.
Circles Around the Sun performed a 45-minute opening set of instrumental Grateful-Dead-inspired compositions. The first few rows were packed-in with fans of Neal Casal’s Fare Thee Well project, which is finding tremendous response from fans in the live setting. The pairing with Greensky Bluegrass could not have been more perfect.
Amid a sea of bobbing heads, who were rapt with attention throughout the night, Greensky kicked off their first set of the tour with a quick jumpstart in “A Letter to Seymour” and “In Control,” off 2014’s If Sorrows Swim. “All for Money,” the title track of their latest release was an early highlight, featuring instrumental consonance that was coupled with exquisite vocal harmonies, and had room to jam built in.
“All 4” had an ebb and flow during the slow developing improv; one that grew to a remarkable peak before returning to a unified point. Greensky really shines when they unleash a jumble of jam inside their songs, always with an ear to bandmates and eventually finding their way home with applause to end the journey. It was followed by Dire Straits “Money for Nothing” to wrap up the first set.
Dobro-extraordinaire Anders Beck said, as the band returned to the stage shortly after 10pm, “You can tell it’s Set 2 because it’s after the first,” and with that Yogi-ism it started with “Old Barns” and “Murder of Crows.” The lights on this evening towered over the band, and illuminated the audience in a minimalist design that fit the stage and sound aptly.
Love was in the air on the back-to-back pairing of Jimmy Martin’s “Hit Parade of Love” and the ‘grassed up psychedelic reggae of Bob Marley’s “Could You Be Loved.” Happy Birthday wishes to Emily, from Beck, turned into Happy Birthday wishes to the entire audience over the course of the year. The show wrapped up with an encore of “Dustbowl Overtures” with a tip of the hat to NY in the vivid lyrics: “And the world’s whistle of a bullet going by / It’s a New York minute, New Mexico sky … It’s the volume of an image, it’s a vision in a song.” Closing the encore was the extended instrumental by the founder of bluegrass music, Bill Monroe, in “Wheel Hoss.”
Greensky Bluegrass performs at the Beacon Theatre in New York City on Saturday, January 12 and All For Money will be released on all platforms on Friday, January 18.
Setlist:
Set 1: A Letter to Seymour, In Control, All for Money, The Four > Bottle Dry, Into the Rafters, Like Reflections, Burn Them (1), Blood Sucking F(r)iends, All 4, Money for Nothing
Set 2: Old Barns (2), Murder of Crows, What You Need (3), Hit Parade of Love, Could You be Love (4), Radio Blues, Broken Highways, Run or Die, Windshield
