Thursday and Friday, Sept. 19-20 at 5 p.m.—GOSHEN—Wood-fired pizza from an outside hearth accompanied by live music in the quintessential summer setting: at the edge of a pond, 100 blueberry bushes, and lush mountains. Pizza by the Pond is offered on random Thursdays and Fridays through the summer months at Blueberry Hill Inn, 1245 Goshen-Ripton Road.
This week, there are offerings both Thursday, Sept. 19, with Brett Hughes and Matt Flinner and Friday, Sept. 20, with the Bloodroot Gap.
Reservations open the Sunday before each event and remain open until sold out. Reservations are not required but are appreciated to ensure there’s enough food! “We will do our best to update the website if we sell out so you don’t make a special trip,” organizers state.
The pizza starts flowing at 5 p.m., music from 6-8.
Brett Hughes and Matt Flinner, Thursday
Brett Hughes has been a stalwart champion of and long-time collaborator in the dynamic Burlington music scene, as member of seminal local and regional bands (Decentz, viperHouse, Chrome Cowboys, Monoprix), as engineer/producer (Surprise Me Mr. Davis, NOLA’s Duke Aeroplane and the Wrong Numbers, Gogol Bordello’s Eugene Hutz, Esther Rose…) an Emmy Award-winning composer (Windy Acres), and singer/songwriter/bandleader in myriad Vermont-based outfits. He hosted the Honky Tonk Tuesday at Burlington’s Radio Bean for over 10 years, played the Bonnarroo, Mountain Jam, moe.down festivals with Mike Gordon (Phish) in Ramble Dove, and toured much of the U.S. and Europe with Nashville-based Shannon McNally. He’s currently scoring a film soundtrack and healing up from surgery after tearing off his bicep tendon while telemark skiing in the woods at Mad River Glen.
Grammy-nominated mandolinist Matt Flinner has made a career out of playing bluegrass and American roots music in new ways. His projects and collaborations range from bluegrass to jazz to classical to new acoustic music, all with the common thread of American roots music with a creative edge. Grammy-nominated mandolinist Matt Flinner has made a career out of playing acoustic music in new ways. Whether it’s with his own Matt Flinner Trio or with Phillips, Grier and Flinner, the Frank Vignola Quartet, Darrell Scott, Steve Martin, Robbie Fulks, the Ying Quartet, Leftover Salmon or the Modern Mandolin Quartet, Flinner’s style and compositional ability have established him as one of the most accomplished and musically diverse mandolinists in the world.
Bloodroot Gap, Friday
Formed after a serendipitous jam session at a Vermont bluegrass festival, Bloodroot Gap is a musical collaboration between brothers Rob and Jim McCuen (Swing Noire), Freeman Corey (Catamount Crossing, Big Spike Bluegrass) and Jake Munson.
Corey, a fiddle player who grew up on a dairy farm in Benson, is the son of an old-time fiddler. He started playing at age 10, learning hundreds of Irish, Scottish and French-Canadian fiddle tunes from his father. Corey has become one of Vermont’s most sought-after traditional fiddlers, gracing the stage with Bob Amos and Catamount Crossing, Big Spike Bluegrass, The Haymakers and Spare Parts among countless other notable groups and musicians.
Pizza by the Pond is an outdoor event in Goshen, featuring live music and wood-fired pizza, open to all ages and BYOB, with performances by Brett Hughes, Matt Flinner, and Bloodroot Gap.
The McCuen Brothers have been performing side-by-side for nearly 30 years, founding the bands Wiley Dobbs, Acoustic Undermind, and Swing Noire, and sharing the stage with the likes of Frank Vignola, Jamie Masefield, Charlie Hunter and Doug Perkins. The brothers provide tight vocal harmonies and rhythmic accompaniment, as only twins can. Rob dazzles audiences with his fluid solos on mandolin and guitar, while Jim holds down the low end on upright bass.
Munson sings and plays guitar with the skill and confidence of someone who was raised in a musical family, and he’s performed onstage with nationally recognized, award-winning instrumentalists like Matt Flinner and Jake Scheppes. Munson has become an integral band member, adding even more depth and complexity to their sound.
Admission is $43 per person (age 13 and older) and includes an all-you-can-eat pizza buffet, hot and cold lemonade, live music fees and all taxes and credit card and permit fees. Add-on options of salad and ice cream available, too. Kids 8-12 are $23; kids 7 and under free! This is a BYOB event. Well-behaved and leashed dogs are also welcome.
We use Vermont flour and a slow dough process that results in an irresistible crust—topped with local meat, garden fresh produce, and sincere attention to detail.
This is an outdoor event. If we need to cancel due to weather, you will receive a full refund. Blueberry Hill Inn is located at 1245 Goshen Ripton Road in Goshen.
For more information visit: BlueberryHillInn.com/pizza.
