Happy New Year. As Big Al Davis, front man for Banjo Dan and the Mid-nite Plowboys for 40 years sang in one of his best songs, “Good luck to you and to me.“ We’ll need it.
For our new subscribers, the mission of this newsletter is primarily to let you know about show dates for The VT Bluegrass Pioneers and The Sky Blue Boys (Banjo Dan and Willy Lindner). From time to time we may add a few tidbits about recordings, special music events, etc.
2025 is getting off to a slow start for bookings, as some of us will be taking a bit of time off to do some traveling. But we’re working the angles and expect to have plenty of shows lined up for spring and summer. Meanwhile, here’s what we have for the near future:
January 17: Maple Corner, VT, The Whammy Bar, 7-9 PM. Nothing new to tell you; this little pub is just the coolest, funnest place we’ve ever played. Come join The VT Bluegrass Pioneers and help us warm up a winter’s night with some red-hot bluegrass. No cover!
March 13: Warren, VT, Sugarbush Resort. The Pioneers will be entertaining in the Green Mountain Lodge at Mount Ellen from 3-6 PM. Fine eats and drinks, good music, and you don’t need to be a skier!
March 22: Maple Corner, VT, Whammy Bar, 7-9 PM. This time it’s The Sky Blue Boys, with their carfull of instruments and a lively show full of great old songs along with loads of originals.
March 29: Barre, VT, Hedding Methodist Church, 40 Washington Street. The VT Bluegrass Pioneers will be appearing in concert at 7:30 PM in Hedding’s lovely sanctuary. Open to one and all, admission by donation, with $15-20 suggested for adults. This is going to be a special one for us, with lots of good new songs in the repertoire. Not to mention refreshments at intermission. We’d love to see you there.
**I’d also like to tell you about a special event in Rutland on April 11. The Osher Lifelong Learning Initiative will be presenting “Banjo Dan’s Songs of Vermont,” a program in which I’ll be offering information on the inspiration, background, and recording of songs from my four volumes of original Vermont songs and singing several of them. I’ve done these programs for several other OLLI chapters and folks have told me they’ve really enjoyed the stories and songs I offer in these informal presentations. I hope you folks in western Vermont will mark the date on your calendar. I’ll provide more info when we get closer to the date.
Meanwhile. Thanks for supporting live music and we hope to see you soon.
-Banjo Dan