Lebanon ‘Opry’ House
Presents Bluegrass Festival

Several of the most innovative and revered names in bluegrass music will converge November 16 and 17 at 7:30 p.m. when Lebanon Opera House in Lebanon, N.H. presents its first annual Upper Valley Bluegrass Festival.

The event will feature performances by The Greencards and Sam Bush Friday evening and Crooked Still and the Del McCoury Band on Saturday. The festival also offers an opportunity for bluegrass musicians and enthusiasts of all ages and abilities to attend workshops and informal jam sessions Saturday afternoon from 1-4 p.m. at the newly renovated AVA Gallery and Art Center at 11 Bank Street in Lebanon.

Dubbed the "King of Newgrass," Bush is cofounder and leader of the seminal progressive bluegrass band New Grass Revival. Besides helming the ever-popular Sam Bush Band, featured on the upcoming release Laps in Seven, the mandolin prodigy from Kentucky has been an important influence on musicians young and old. When not heading his own band, Bush has spent the past 15 years as a supersideman with the likes of Emmylou Harris, Lyle Lovett, and the Flecktones.

The Greencards are an acoustic music group phenomenon that’s played around the world, headlined major festivals, won awards, and toured the US with Bob Dylan and Willie Nelson. Named Best New Band at the Austin Music Awards in 2004, The Houston Chronicle ranked their live show among the city’s top five nights of music of the year.

Crooked Still is a hot young alternative bluegrass group on a mission to bend the boundaries of traditional music. The unlikely combination of banjo, cello, and double-bass drives this low lonesome band, whose soaring vocals and high-wire solos have captured audiences all over North America and Ireland since 2001.

Throughout his illustrious career, Del McCoury has embodied the best qualities of bluegrass, from the genre’s formative years in the 1960s, when McCoury played with Bill Monroe and Lester Flatt, to more recent collaborations with folks like Phish and Steve Earle. At the age of 67, McCoury is at the height of his game, and has become a major force in bringing bluegrass to a wider audience.

McCoury, along with his band, has won more International Bluegrass Music Association awards than any other artist in the genre’s history with a total of nearly 40 individual and group citations from the IBMA, including nine "Entertainer Of The Year" honors. He has been nominated for six Grammys (winning his first in 2007), has seen his videos welcomed by CMT, and joined the venerated Grand Ole Opry.

Tickets can be reserved by calling the Lebanon Opera House box office at 603-448-0400 or online at www.lebanonoperahouse.org.

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