Arts, Dining & Entertainment

Missisquoi River Band brings bluegrass to Brandon

Courtesy of Brandon Music

MISSISQUOI RIVER BAND

Saturday, Aug. 15 at 7:30 p.m. — BRANDON — Northern Vermont’s Missisquoi River Band brings traditional and original bluegrass music to Brandon Music on Aug. 15 at 7:30 p.m. The group features Patrick Murphy and Jim and Cindy Weed, the songwriting and vocal backbone of the band. Their unique three-part harmony arrangements are masterfully backed up by David Gusakov a well-seasoned picker adding to the innovative instrumentals.

The band just released its first all-original CD “Plenty of Heartaches” this past year. Dan Bolles of Seven Days noted, “The Weeds write with all the warm nostalgia of a Norman Rockwell painting,” and that Murphy “colors his lovelorn musings with a blues hue.”

Jim Weed has been playing guitar for 30 years and was a founding member of the Backyard Bluegrass Band, along with his wife Cindy on rhythm guitar. Murphy (bass fiddle) has been picking and singing, mostly solo, for decades in a variety of styles including blues, rock and folk. Since 1973, Gusakov, playing fiddle, has been plying the music trade in his adopted state of Vermont, ping-ponging between the Vermont Symphony and assorted bluegrass (Pine Island, Midnite Plowboys) and jazzy (Will Patton Ensemble, Swing Noire) outfits throughout the state.

Concert tickets are $20. Venue is BYOB. Brandon Music is located at 62 Country Club Road, Brandon. Call 802-247-4295 or e-mail info@brandon-music.net for more info.

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