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August 2 - 3
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2003 Old Time Country Music Hall of Fame Inductee Lil’ Rev grew up in the shadows of American Motors Corp, Briggs N Stratton, and A.O. Smith in Milwaukee, WI (where he still resides today), so was inspired by the sights and sounds of an industrial powerhouse in flux. While Lil’ Rev is well-known for his ukulele and harmonica stylings, he is also a seasoned multi-instrumentalist equally adept at old time banjo, flat-pick guitar, and blues mandolin.
Although 25-year-old songster Jerron “Blind Boy” Paxton has been legally blind since his teens, his ability to tap into traditional American music reveals a perceptiveness and focus that few others are able to achieve. A gifted multi-instrumentalist who specializes in traditional, pre-World War II music, Paxton plays the fiddle, banjo, guitar, harmonica, and piano, and his performances are filled with ballads (both sung and played), blues tunes, banjo tunes, fiddle tunes, rags, and more. TheCountryBlues.com declares that, “A fabulous new country blues talent as impressive as Jerron Paxton is not just rare, his extraordinary talent is almost surreal.” Ask this self-proclaimed “thorough musician” what he does, though, and he’ll tell you that “All I do is play music; I’m too lazy to work.”
Blind Boy Paxton will be playing this year’s festival on Saturday, August 2nd.
The Tillers got their start in Cincinnati, OH, in August 2007 when they started thumping around with some banjos, guitars, and a big wooden bass, playing songs that were (mostly) older than their grandparents. The Tillers have been awarded CityBeat Magazine’s Cincinnati Entertainment Award for Best Folk and Americana Act in 2009, 2010, 2013, and 2014, have toured throughout the US and Europe, and were featured in Tom Brokaw’s documentary about US Route 50. Musically, the band’s sound has proven to be an appropriate fit with a wide range of musical styles: traditional folk, bluegrass, jazz, punk rock, and anything else they might run into.
The 11th Annual Sugar maple Festival is only a couple of weeks away and the complete schedule is now set.
5:15 PM Count This Penny
6:30 PM Eric Lewis & Rory Hoffman
7:45 PM Jack Klatt Trio
9:00 PM The Tillers
6:00 PM Accordion workshop/Jam with Patrick Harison from the Jack Klatt trio
7:00 PM Dave Landau
8:00 PM Old time jam with Chirps Smith
Open jamming
The fun begins on Saturday with a Sugar Maple Fest tradition, the Bloody Mary Jam. This year’s Bloody Mary Jam will feature the Awful Purdies, 10:30AM, at the Roots and Reasons Stage.
12:15 PM Cajun Strangers
1:30 PM Loves It!!
2:45 PM Lil’ Rev
4:00 PM The Awful Purdies
5:15 PM Blind Boy Paxton
6:30 PM Bradford Lee Folk & the Bluegrass Playboys
7:45 PM Dom Flemons Duo
9:00 PM Drunken Catfish Ramblers
12:30 PM Erin Ribble & Tina Thompson Youth and beginners roots fiddle.
1:30 PM Stephanie Elkins Interview and selected songs Blind Boy Paxton
2:30 PM Stephanie Elkins Interview and selected songs Dom Flemons
3:30 PM Moderated discussion with Blind Boy Paxton, & Dom Flemons on the influence of African American musical traditions and how they contributed to and became American roots music.
4:30 PM Dave Landau
5:00 PM Lil Rev ukulele workshop
6:15 PM Drunken Catfish Ramblers tunes and talking of being a street band
12:00PM Old time Jam led by Chirps Smith
2:00 PM Cajun Jam led by the Cajun Strangers
4:00 PM Bluegrass jam led by the Bluegrass Playboys
6:00PM Open jamming
The schedule for this years edition of the Sugar Maple Traditional Music festival is coming together.
5:15 PM Count This Penny
6:30 PM Eric Lewis & Rory Hoffman
7:45 PM Jack Klatt Trio
9:00 PM The Tillers
10:30 AM The Awful Purdies (Bloody Mary Jam)
12:15 PM Cajun Strangers
1:30 PM Loves It!!
2:45 PM Lil’ Rev
4:00 PM The Awful Purdies
5:15 PM Blind Boy Paxton
6:30 PM Bradford Lee Folk & the Bluegrass Playboys
7:45 PM Dom Flemons Duo
9:00 PM Drunken Catfish Ramblers