By James Kent
March 28 at 7:30 p.m.—RUTLAND—Grammy-Award-winning banjo virtuoso Noam Pikelny hits the stage at the Paramount Theatre for a bluegrass extravaganza on Friday, March 28. This time around, Pikelny is bringing along some friends. Playing with Pikelny is a crack group of amazing players, with Jake Eddy playing guitar, Teo Quale playing mandolin, Julian Pinelli playing fiddle, and Dan Klingsberg playing bass. Included in this gathering of music makers is 5th-generation Vermonter Caitlin Canty. Canty, a Proctor native, is also Pikelny’s wife.
This special performance serves as a homecoming concert for Pikelny, which might sound strange for a musician born in the North Chicago area, who had most recently called Nashville his home. Like so many things that changed over the past five years, the pandemic also caused a shift in Pikelny’s life.
“When the pandemic hit, our son was born, and the industry shut down,” said Pikelny. Soon, trips to visit Canty’s family in Vermont became more frequent, and Pikelny saw the Green Mountain State as a place of opportunity. “We fell in love with the idea of living in Danby.”Danby provides Pikelny with everything he enjoys about rural living: plenty of area music festivals for him to take his kids to, and it’s close enough for him to travel to NYC, where he tapes a live show for Audible with his group, The Punch Brothers.
Anyone who’s heard Pikelny play the banjo knows he’s one of the best, but he remained modest when discussing his beginnings.
“I heard a Bluegrass band in school when I was eight. My brother took weekly lessons playing the mandolin. My mother suggested the banjo for me,” said Pikelny. “Pretty quickly, I fell in love with the actual sound of the banjo, but I am by no means a prodigy.”Living in the Northside of Chicago gave Pikelny an entry to an exciting world of musical opportunities. He’d attend jam sessions and song circles, and there was a never-ending supply of music festivals for him to attend.
“One of the things that’s cool with bluegrass is that beyond the beauty of the music, it’s almost a lifestyle,” said Pikelny, explaining why he loves performing bluegrass music.
Noam Pikelny may take his music and playing seriously, but anyone who’s caught his act or seen any of his online videos knows that he possesses a sharp wit and dry sense of humor that brings a sense of fun to the proceedings.
The atmosphere will be memorable when Pikelny & Friends takes the stage at the Paramount Theatre on March 28. He’s played the Paramount Theatre before, but this time around, it will feel like coming home to family.
For more information and tickets, visit: paramountvt.org.
