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Suncoast BBQ & Bluegrass Festival
Venice Airport festival grounds, 610 Airport Ave. E.
Free admission and parking. Bring a chair; no pets, coolers or high-back chairs are allowed in the festival area.
Read Brian Ries' roundup of all the funt activities at the BBQ event.
Saturday, April 16
Gates open at 10 a.m.; music starts at noon, featuring Flatt Lonesome, The Grascals and The Boxcars.
Friday night kickoff party
Gates open at 5 p.m., featuring Venice-area band Swinging Bridge and hot-air balloon rides
PERFORMANCE SCHEDULE
Noon
Flatt Lonesome
Flatt Lonesome returns to play the Suncoast BBQ & Bluegrass Bash. (Photo provided)
The newest band kicks off the bash. The young band was named 2014 IBMA Emerging Artists of the Year. In 2015, the band’s “Too” projected was nominated for IBMA Album of the Year. Flatt Lonesome was also nominated for Vocal Group of the Year. This traditional band features sibling three-part harmony in their signature sound. Kelsi Robertson Harrigill and her younger twin siblings, Charli and Buddy Robertson, are known for their soaring harmony vocals. The band garnered a standing ovation at last year’s IBMA Awards Show in Raleigh, N.C., after they sang “You’re the One,” featuring Charli on lead. A huge crowd showed up for their performance the next day at IBMA World of Bluegrass. Flatt Lonesome also appeared numerous times on the Grand Ole Opry and is getting ready to release “Runaway Train,” a new CD.
1:15 p.m.
The Grascals.
Click here to read an interview with the band’s mandolin player Danny Roberts.
2:30 p.m.
The Boxcars
The Boxcars have performed every year at the Suncoast BBQ & Bluegrass Bash in Venice.
Festival organizer Don Fisher refers to The Boxcars as his “house band.” The band has appeared at every Suncoast BBQ and Bluegrass Bash since the event’s beginning. Led by 11-time IBMA mandolin player of the year Adam Steffey and award-winning banjo and fiddle player Ron Stewart, The Boxcars are known as one of the genre’s top instrumental bands. Lead singer and guitar player Keith Garrett writes a lot of the band’s original material, including “Familiar With the Ground,” the title track from the new CD. “It’s Just a Road,” The Boxcars’ previous project, was nominated for a Grammy. Look for an all killer, no-filler set by this stellar band.
4 p.m.
Appalachian Jam
The finale features members of all three bluegrass bands playing together, plus a possible special guest appearance from a bluegrass and Americana legend. The event concludes every year with “Will the Circle Be Unbroken,” a classic country and bluegrass song.
VIDEOS
