Enjoy a stellar lineup of bluegrass bands, while making Dane County a better place for all!

The Sugar Maple Music Festival is proud to support the 17th Annual United Way Bluegrass Benefit at the Barrymore Theatre, Sunday February 11th.

Six bands and performers are volunteering their time and talents with all proceeds going to United Way of Dane County.

Here’s the line-up:

Cork ‘n Bottle String Band 12:45 p.m.
Sparetime Bluegrass 1:30 p.m.
Dave Landau The King of Kids Music 2:15 p.m.
Oak Street Ramblers 2:45 p.m.
MadFiddle 3:30 p.m.
Old Tin Can String Band 4:30 p.m.

And while you’re sitting back enjoying the music, be sure to get in on the raffle! Purchase your tickets between 1-3:30 pm and five lucky winners will score a pair of tickets to see more amazingly talented artists perform at our upcoming concert series shows or weekend passes to the 15^th annual Sugar Maple Music Festival!

Raffle proceeds will be split between the Sugar Maple Music Festival and the United Way.

The Sugar Maple Music Festival, with support of SWBMAI, welcomes Claire Lynch and her band, Thursday, March 22 at 7:30pm at the Bos Mead Hall

Long recognized and praised as a creative force in acoustic music, Claire Lynch is a pioneer who continually pushes the boundaries of the bluegrass genre. Her career has been decorated with many accolades including three GRAMMY nominations, six International Bluegrass Music Association awards and the prestigious United States Artists Walker Fellowship.

Dolly Parton credits Claire with “one of the sweetest, purest and best lead voices in the music business today.” Her harmonies have graced the recordings of many stellar musicians. Equally gifted as a writer, her songs have been recorded by The Seldom Scene, Patty Loveless, Kathy Mattea, Cherryholmes, The Whites and others.

Blazing her own trail in the mid 70’s when there were few role models for young women in the genre, Claire Lynch made history when she led the Front Porch String Band which evolved in the 80’s and 90’s into “one of the sharpest and most exciting post-modern bluegrass bands on the circuit.” She formed her own Claire Lynch Band in 2005 and has since consistently been a top pick of prestigious publications, critics and audiences across the U.S. and beyond.

$20 Advance tickets / $25 at the door

Circus No.9

Based out of East Tennessee, Circus No.9 is a new progressive acoustic group that embraces the influence of Bluegrass, Jazz, Rock, and more. The group has appeared on stage alongside artists including David Grisman, Bryan Sutton, Larry Keel, and more. With awarded musicians Matthew Davis (2016 National Banjo Champion, 2017 Rockygrass Banjo Champion), Thomas Cassell (2016 Rockygrass Mandolin Champion), bassist Vince Ilagan, and guitarist Jed Clark, Circus No.9 is taking the new acoustic scene by force.  Catch them at North Street Cabaret Friday, January 19 at 8 pm as part of the Sugar Maple Concert Series.

And don’t miss Béla Fleck & Abigail Washburn at the Capitol Theater Friday February 16.   Béla Fleck is a fifteen-time Grammy Award winner who has taken the instrument across multiple genres, and Abigail Washburn a singer-songwriter and clawhammer banjo player who re-radicalized it by combining it with Far East culture and sounds.  Echo in the Valley is the follow-up to Béla and Abigail’s acclaimed, self-titled debut that earned the 2016 Grammy for Best Folk Album. This time around, the mission was to take their double banjo combination of three finger and clawhammer styles “to the next level and find things to do together that we had not done before,” says Béla. “We’re expressing different emotions through past techniques and going to deeper places.” The results are fascinating, especially considering their strict rules for recording: all sounds must be created by the two of them, the only instruments used are banjos (they have seven between them, ranging from a ukulele to an upright bass banjo), and they must be able to perform every recorded song live.

Both events sponsored by Sugar Maple Music Festival

Exploring American Roots Music