The Community Concert Hall welcomes The Infamous Stringdusters with special guest Lonesome Stew on March 25

 

DURANGO, Colo. – Bluegrass returns to the Community Concert Hall at Fort Lewis College with The Infamous Stringdusters set to perform Thursday, March 25, 2010, at 7:30 p.m. Local bluegrass band Lonesome Stew opens the show.

While critics have often declared The Infamous Stringdusters as newgrass torchbearers, the band is actually a broad melting pot of American music. The backgrounds of band members range from training in classical and jazz, to hard rock, to stints backing country legends and high lonesome heroes.

          Based in Nashville, Tenn., the band consists of six professional players – Andy Falco (guitar), Andy Hall (dobro), Chris Pandolfi (banjo), Jeremy Garrett (fiddle), Jesse Cobb (mandolin) and Travis Book (upright bass). All are steeped in the tradition of bluegrass vocal harmony as well as the progressive edge of instrumental music.

The Stringdusters’ 2007 debut release “Fork in the Road” was named Album of the Year by the International Bluegrass Music Association. Its title track received Song of the Year, with the band itself honored as Best Emerging Artist.

In late 2009, Durango Telegraph columnist Chris Aaland cited The Infamous Stringdusters’ “Fork in the Road” as one of the top 10 albums of the decade, writing, “Six of Nashville’s best and brightest young pickers – including Durango’s own Travis Book – burst onto the national scene with this one. From Andy Hall’s bluesy dobro that opens the album to the Chris Pandolfi-penned instrumental that closes it, “Fork in the Road” marks the intersection of generations, where the best of traditional bluegrass meets the jamming of youth.”

The progressive sextet has toured steadily since formation, focused on what makes the band unique: the musical integration of six individual musicians into one visionary sound.

“The more we play, the more everyone’s deep musical influences become a part of the whole band,” noted bassist Book. “With this group, the well runs deep, and when this band is at its best we’re developing a new sub-genre of acoustic music. We definitely have a communal thing going on and the music is falling in line with that.”

          Lonesome Stew, a collection of five of Durango’s top bluegrass pickers, opens the show and brings together past and present members of popular bands including the Badly Bent and Rock & Rye. Lonesome Stew features Robin Davis and David Smith (guitar and vocals), Pat Dressen (mandolin and vocals), Jimmy Largent (bass) and Hap Purcell (banjo).

Tickets for The Infamous Stringdusters with special guest Lonesome Stew – $15 – are available on line at www.durangoconcerts.com or by calling 970.247.7657 or toll free 877.282.9992. Or visit the Ticketing Services Office in Downtown Durango at 7^th and Main Ave. All sales final.

Showtime is 7:30 p.m., with doors to the Concert Hall and concessions, serving beer, wine and non-alcoholic beverages and snacks, opening at 6:30 p.m.

The Community Concert Hall is located in the growing arts complex of Fort Lewis College.  It operates through a partnership with the college, a state-supported, independent institution of higher education, as well as the city of Durango, and with financial and in-kind contributions from generous members of the community.