Old-Time Music Community Square Dance

Celebrate old-time music with an afternoon and evening of music, dancing and community. The day features an instrumental community jam, a family-friendly square dance and an evening concert showcasing nationally acclaimed old-time music ensembles.   

 

JAM SESSION
2-3:30 p.m., Hoover Auditorium West Lawn along Walnut Avenue
Co-hosted by Ken and Brad Kolodner, Rachel Eddy and Alex Lacquement, of the Ken & Brad Kolodner Quartet, this community jam session welcome musicians of all skill levels and instruments. Acoustic string band instruments preferred. Not a musician? Stop by to soak in the scene and enjoy the music.   

 

COMMUNITY SQUARE DANCE
4-5 p.m., Third Street in front of Hoover Auditorium
Grab a partner, or come on your own, for a lively, family-friendly square dance featuring a live string band and dance caller. No experience or partner is needed. Everyone is welcome to join in the fun.  

 

OLD-TIME MUSIC JAMBOREE CONCERT
7 p.m., Hoover Auditorium
The Old-Time Music Jamboree features two national acts celebrating the rich traditions and evolving sounds of American roots music. The Ken & Brad Kolodner Quartet will open the concert at 7 p.m., followed by a headlining performance by Dom Flemons & The Traveling Wildfires. 

Dom Flemons & the Traveling Wildfires
Grammy Award-winning musician and American Banjo Hall of Fame Inductee Dom Flemons, known as “The American Songster,” brings his new supergroup, The Traveling Wildfires, to Lakeside. A founding member of the groundbreaking Carolina Chocolate Drops, Flemons is widely recognized as an influential voice in roots music.

 

The Traveling Wildfires features a powerhouse lineup of multi-instrumentalists whose collective talents bring fresh energy to American roots music. Flemons formed the group as the next chapter in his lifelong mission to celebrate, preserve and innovate within roots music traditions.

 

Inspired by his Grammy-nominated albums Black Cowboys and Traveling Wildfire and the 20th anniversary of the Carolina Chocolate Drops, the new supergroup carries those traditions forward with a sound rooted in bluegrass, country, folk, blues and Black string band music.

 

Flemons has performed as a solo artist for more than a decade and collaborated with renowned musicians including Tyler Childers, Billy Strings, Molly Tuttle, Yo-Yo Ma and Sam Bush.

 

Joining Flemons are bassist and fiddler Brian Farrow, formerly of Gangstagrass; banjoist and guitarist Tray Wellington, formerly of New Dangerfield; and singer and drummer Dante Pope, formerly of Old Crow Medicine Show. Together, they bring decades of musical experience and diverse influences to the stage. 

Ken & Brad Kolodner Quartet
Baltimore-based father-son duo Ken and Brad Kolodner have built their musical partnership on family, tradition and a shared passion for old-time music. What began with a father passing tunes on to his son has grown into a celebrated collaboration that has taken them across the country, onto festival stages and into recording studios.

 

Ken is one of the country’s most respected hammered dulcimer players. He toured and recorded extensively with the folk trio Helicon, which performed in Hoover Auditorium in the 1990s.

 

Brad grew up surrounded by music, from family jam sessions to concerts and festivals. He picked up the banjo as a teenager, inspired by the music he heard around him, and developed his own distinctive voice as a clawhammer banjo player and composer. He is also a founding member of the acclaimed roots quartet Charm City Junction.

 

The natural connection between Ken and Brad is at the heart of their music. Their 2020 album, Stony Run, reached No. 4 on the Billboard Bluegrass Chart. They regularly perform with bassist Alex Lacquement and multi-instrumentalist Rachel Eddy, whose talents expand the quartet’s sound and bring additional depth and energy to their performances.