NASHVILLE, TN (May 6, 2014) – Now in its 20th year, the Springer Mountain Farms Bluegrass Nights at the Ryman series has become a Nashville summertime tradition. The series regularly presents the biggest names in bluegrass on the very stage where the genre was born when Earl Scruggs played his then-revolutionary style of banjo with Bill Monroe and his Bluegrass Boys for the first time in 1945. In 2006, the state of Tennessee presented Ryman Auditorium with a historical marker designating it as the official Birthplace of Bluegrass.
The line-up this year is sure to delight bluegrass fans:
June 26 Vince Gill
July 3 Yonder Mountain String Band
July 10 Steep Canyon Rangers and Jim Lauderdale
July 17 Dailey & Vincent
July 24 Earls of Leicester (Jerry Douglas, Shawn Camp, Johnny Warren, Charlie Cushman, Barry Bales and Tim O’Brien) with Jesse McReynolds and the Virginia Boys
July 31 Ricky Skaggs & Kentucky Thunder
July 3 Yonder Mountain String Band
July 10 Steep Canyon Rangers and Jim Lauderdale
July 17 Dailey & Vincent
July 24 Earls of Leicester (Jerry Douglas, Shawn Camp, Johnny Warren, Charlie Cushman, Barry Bales and Tim O’Brien) with Jesse McReynolds and the Virginia Boys
July 31 Ricky Skaggs & Kentucky Thunder
The 2014 series kicks off on June 26 with twenty-time Grammy® award winner singer-songwriter and Country Music Hall of Fame member Vince Gill. The annual Red, White and Bluegrass show on July 3 will see progressive Bluegrass group Yonder Mountain String Band make their Ryman headlining debut. July 10, Steep Canyon Rangers, Grammy® winners for Best Bluegrass Album (“Nobody Knows You”), and two-time Grammy award winner and hit songwriter, Jim Lauderdale, will co-headline the show. Rounder Records recording artists and three-time IBMA Entertainer of the Year winners Dailey & Vincent will take the stage on July 17. On July 24, dobro master Jerry Douglas presents Earls of Leicester, a bluegrass super-group performing the music of Flatt & Scruggs from 1954-1965 comprised of Douglas, Grammy-award-winning producer Shawn Camp, Johnny Warren, son of Paul Warren, legendary fiddle player in Flatt & Scruggs Foggy Mountain Boys Band, acclaimed banjo player Charlie Cushman, Barry Bales of Alison Krauss & Union Station fame, and A-list sideman Tim O’Brien on mandolin. Perennial favorite and 14 time Grammy® award winner Ricky Skaggs and his eight-time IBMA Instrumental Band of the Year Kentucky Thunder close-out the series on July 31. CMA Air Personality of the Year award winner Eddie Stubbs will once again host each show of the series.
All shows begin at 7:30 p.m. and are preceded by 650 AM WSM’s Pickin’ on the Plaza featuring regional bluegrass bands from 6:00 p.m. to 6:45 p.m. The free showcases take place in the Ryman parking lot. Puckett’s “Trolley Parton” will be on site during Pickin’ on the Plaza serving menu items featuring Springer Mountain Farms chicken. The 2014 Pickin’ on the Plaza lineup is as follows:
June 26 Dana Romanello
July 3 Flatt Lonesome
July 10 Westbound Rangers
July 17 A Step Ahead
July 24 Freshwater Creek
July 31 Lonnie Jones & Hard Drive
July 3 Flatt Lonesome
July 10 Westbound Rangers
July 17 A Step Ahead
July 24 Freshwater Creek
July 31 Lonnie Jones & Hard Drive
Tickets are on sale now through the Ryman box office, online at http://ryman.com/bluegrass or by calling 615-458-BLUE. Tickets are $27.50 for individual shows. Series passes for all six shows are only $147.00.