Bluegrass in New York

July 4th- put it on your calendar today…. Madison Square Park announces a great roots music show as part of their 10th anniversary programming.

July 4th, 2012
Noam Pikelny and Friends I 3pm
Virtuosic banjo player Noam Pikelny headlines MSPC’s 10-year anniversary July 4 celebration with his band of friends including Aoife O’ Donovan (Crooked Still), Gabe Witcher (Punch Brothers), Chris Eldridge (Punch Brothers) and Mark Schatz (Claire Lynch Band). Part of the acclaimed bluegrass group Punch Brothers and winner of the first Steve Martin Prize for Excellence in Banjo and Bluegrass Music, Pikelny is, “a player of unlimited range and astonishing precision,” (Steve Martin).

The Sweetback Sisters
The Sweetback Sisters Emily Miller and Zara Bode may not be blood relations, but their precise, family-style harmonies recall the best of country music from the Everlys to The Judds, as well as the spirited rockabilly energy of Wanda Jackson, one of the band’s role models. Like the artists they admire, the Sweetbacks are concerned with the traditional subjects of heartbreak, revenge, remorse and staying strong in the face of relationships gone wrong, albeit with a contemporary sensibility. The Boston Globe says, “If you think the concepts of hipster Brooklynites and classic country music are mutually exclusive, allow us to introduce you to this swinging sextet. Fronted by the closely harmonizing duo of Zara Bode and Emily Miller, the zingy group is simultaneously reverent of tradition and contemporaneously cheeky.”

Spuyten Duyvil
“Spuyten Duyvil,” Dutch slang for “in spite of the devil” as well as the creek connecting the Harlem and Hudson Rivers, is a new band of eight old souls playing and singing their hearts out. Led by husband and wife duo Mark Miller (guitar, Bouzouki, vocals) and Beth Jamie Kaufman (vocals) they lean on the history, folklore and sounds of the last 100 years to craft an energetic bluesy, bluegrass, jug band, Old Timey influenced force. Featuring guitar, dobro, fiddle, mandolin and lap steel, harmonica, drums, bass and rich multi-part harmonies, Spuyten Duyvil is, “one of the best bands to emerge on the Americana scene in the last year,” (John Platt, WFUV).