Spring Loaded

Long-awaited April is showering us with musical opportunity including an admonition to secure your seat for our next JAMinc/In Your Ear Studio concert featuring the Texas cyclone that is Cadillac Sky.  If you aren't familiar with them, they're one of the hottest bands in the broad bluegrass genre and they've set tongues to waggin' all over the country.  Behind bandleader Bryan Simpson's brilliant songwriting and lead vocals, CSky brings stunning harmonies and instrumental virtuosity to a table loaded with acoustic creativity.  I know I'm gushing but join us for this special show and hear for yourself.  Reservations are already going fast so giddyup!  The boys will be taking a victory lap after what no doubt will be triumphant performances at this year's MerleFest April 23-26. Oh yeah, our show's on Saturday, May 2nd.

I will be back at the Watson festival for the 18th straight year as Cabin Stage manager so if you can't be there, watch this space for accounts and photos.  It's an annual pilgrimage that restores my soul.  The lineup is huge as always and I'm overjoyed that The Kruger Brothers are back at last...it's been way too long. 

Those hard travelin' Infamous Stringdusters won't be at MerleFest this year but you can catch 'em right here in River City on Monday, April 20th at the the University of Richmond's Modlin Center.   This now well-seasoned sextet has been all over the U.S. and Europe and this'll be the first time we've gotten to hear them in a theater setting.  Tickets are a bit pricey (good for them!) but they're more than worth it.  Another prime example of how well this new generation has nurtured bluegrass.  And as a special gift from the Easter Bunny, we've got a pair of tickets to the Dusters concert for the first one of you dear readers with the right answer to this:  Name the two brothers (and what they play) with the Stringdusters and the John Cowan Band respectively.  (hint-they're tuned the same)  Winner's name will be held at will-call.  mail@timtimberlake.com Should be a very high-quality show.

Hats off to Tom Beals and all the Haymaker guys who've  come up with a stellar season for Groovin' In The Garden at Lewis Ginter every Thursday in May and June.  After a year off for a major expansion of the gorgeous rose garden venue and terracing the lawn, get your tickets now for acts like Shooter Jennings, Brandi Carlile, Indigo Girls, Cowboy Junkies AND Old Crow Medicine Show.  Mama rock me, indeed.

In the short term, the leaner latest edition of Old School Freight Train (Jesse Harper, Darrell Muller, Nate Leath and drummer Nick Falk) will bring their brand new release Six Years to the Capital Ale House downtown music hall on Friday night (4/10)

And Saturday night, our new friend from Sedro Woolley Washington, Bryan Bowers returns for a well-deserved encore to his JAMinc/In Your Ear show last fall.  He'll play the Shady Grove Coffee House in Glen Allen and will surely hold the audience in the palm of his well-calloused hand.  Bryan is a master autoharpist and storyteller besides being a wonderful human being.  Highly recommended, especially if you missed him before.

Tickets are selling well for our May 8th JAMinc concert with The Isaacs at the West End Assembly of God on Parham Road.  We've been talking about this show for some time but now it's less than a month away so don't procrastinate...get 'em now at our JAMinc Website.  The Isaacs promise as powerful a musical and spiritual experience as you've likely had in quite a while.

From the spring band shuffle, it's just been announced that dazzling Flecktones saxman Jeff Coffin has joined the Dave Matthews Band replacing LeRoi Moore who was fatally injured in an ATV accident last year.  Jeff had been filling that spot since the mishap last summer.  So will Bela find another reed player or will he go in another direction?  Remember harmonica wizard Howard Levy from the original band?  Or how about kora master Toumani Diabate who played on Throw Down Your Heart: Tales From the Acoustic Planet Vol. 3, Africa Sessions, Bela's latest project for Rounder?  Expect the unexpected from the banjo's best friend.

Have a wonderful Easter weekend and thank God for this magnificent spring.  The full moon rise tonight was spectacular.  Hope you saw the man in there.

TT

(Cadillac Sky and Isaacs group photos from their press kits)