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Pocono Raceway to Host Bluegrass Concert
Bluegrass Music and the Pennsylvania 500 - a great weekend happening
Billed as ‘The Music of the Mountains’, Pocono Raceway will play host to a weekend of Bluegrass prior to the August 2nd Pennsylvania 500, NASCAR Sprint Cup Series event. The two days of concerts, Friday, July 31 and Saturday, August 1, will feature top artists – Ricky Skaggs, Steep Canyon Rangers, Charlie Sizemore Band, Dailey & Vincent, Del McCoury Band, Cherryholmes, Blue Highway and SteelDrivers – and is free to infield campers attending the race.
According to Dr. Joseph Mattioli, Pocono Raceway C.E.O., “For the past nearly forty years, in addition to outstanding racing, we’ve always endeavored to provide a fan experience like no other, and this year’s Pennsylvania 500 will be no different.” Mattioli added, “Two days of top flight bluegrass music, to an already exciting race weekend, provides our fans added value for their entertainment dollar - an outstanding weekend at the track.”
The two day music event is free to campers in the infield, and if history is any guide that means thousands of fans milling about will enjoy this great, mid-season summer event. In addition to the concert, for online fans, a pre-concert, thirty minute ‘red-carpet’ event will be broadcast live on the Internet. A worldwide, online audience estimated at 250,000 will watch NASCAR and ARCA stars interviewed as they walk the ‘carpet’ to the concert’s VIP seating section.
Andrew Kaplan, Yabutz.com outside marketing director, (Yabutz is sponsoring the event) states, “When Pocono called regarding the concert idea we jumped on the opportunity to be involved, of particular interest for us was providing the technical expertise to host a live, Internet event.” Kaplan continued, “although Yabutz’ audience consists of race teams and their procurement staff, our worldwide racing audience will get an opportunity to see top drivers, their counterparts, in a red-carpet like environment, the first ever such event streamed live.”
For more information visit http://yabutz.com/bluegrass. Once there, signing up for the free web-event is simple. The red-carpet event will be simulcast to racing websites around the world.
About The Groups
Charlie Sizemore Band
Much beloved for both his musical talents and integrity, Charlie Sizemore is highly regarded as a vocalist, songwriter, instrumentalist and bandleader. A native of eastern Kentucky, Sizemore was hired at age 17 to take over for the departing Keith Whitley in Ralph Stanley's Clinch Mountain Boys, with whom he stayed for nine years before leaving to start his own band and to attend college. He graduated with honors, and now maintains a successful law practice in addition to his musical endeavors. The Charlie Sizemore Band toured for a dozen years and made seven critically acclaimed albums. Over the years, he built a large following among fans and performers alike. High esteem within the music industry is demonstrated by the numerous artists who have appeared on his records. These guest artists include the Oak Ridge Boys, Vern Gosdin, Alison Krauss, Kathy Mattea, Tom T. Hall, J. D. Crowe and Ralph Stanley.
Steep Canyon Rangers
The Steep Canyon Rangers have built a reputation as a powerful, engaging quintet seasoned by constant touring. Their willingness to carry bluegrass to music-lovers worldwide has put the band on stage at Americana and Bluegrass festivals in the U.S. and overseas, as well as major Rock & Roll venues on the national jam-band circuit. Voted 2006 International Bluegrass Music Association’s “Emerging Artist of the Year”, the Rangers’ fierce commitment to traditional bluegrass audiences is obvious, as well as their dedication to bringing their music to the next generation of fans. Constant touring, intense rehearsing, and most importantly, creative songwriting, sets them apart from the field.
Dailey & Vincent
Jamie Dailey and Darrin Vincent both have a deeply rooted respect and admiration for Bluegrass and Bluegrass Gospel music. These two gentlemen have been singing bluegrass since the age of three and playing since they were nine and six respectively. Dailey and Vincent both have achieved great success in their careers as members of two of the most accomplished Bluegrass bands in the world (Doyle Lawson & Quicksilver and Ricky Skaggs & Kentucky Thunder). While only in their second year as a group, Dailey & Vincent have already achieved staggering success winning seven International Bluegrass Music Awards in 2008 including Entertainer of the Year, Vocal Group of the Year, and Album of the Year.
Ricky Skaggs
2009 marks Ricky's 38th year as a professional musician, and this twelve-time Grammy Award winner continues to do his part to lead the recent roots revival in music. Known affectionately today as bluegrass music's official ambassador, Ricky has brought the genre to greater levels of popularity in the past few years than the father of bluegrass music, the legendary Bill Monroe, could ever have imagined. With eight consecutive Grammy-nominated classics behind him, all from his own Skaggs Family Records label, bluegrass music is undoubtedly in good hands, with the masterful Skaggs at the helm.
Cherryholmes
As America’s new first family of bluegrass, Cherryholmes has stormed to the top of the bluegrass world by winning the 2005 IBMA (International Bluegrass Music Association) Award for Entertainer of the Year. Debuting at No. 3 on Billboard’s Top Bluegrass Albums chart, their self-titled album has received a 2005 Grammy nomination for Best Bluegrass Album of the Year. The Cherryholmes sound is made up of hard-driving instrumental virtuosity and explosive vocal harmonies, featuring a mixture of original songs written by members of the band and carefully chosen classics.
Blue Highway
First convened in 1994, Blue Highway quickly set themselves apart from the bluegrass pack with a trio of heralded albums for Rebel Records that offered ample evidence of the band’s ability create striking original music that still resounded with timeless bluegrass soul. The five men who make up Blue Highway are committed to expanding the expressive boundaries of bluegrass through their own powerful individual songwriting voices, formidable instrumental abilities, dynamic arrangements, and an unrivaled ensemble sound born of over fourteen years of performing together.
SteelDrivers
The SteelDrivers’ brand of bluegrass – intense, dark, poetic, and inescapably human – is a refreshing reminder of the timeless power of stringband music. The willingness to set aside the unspoken rules that ruthlessly govern bluegrass set the SteelDrivers apart from the innumerable faceless acts vying for the bluegrass spotlight. While each member of the band is distinguished in his or her own right and valued in Nashville’s commercial community, they’ve seized an opportunity to follow their hearts to their souls’ reward. In doing so, they are braiding their bluegrass roots with new threads of their own design, bringing together country, soul, and other contemporary influences to create an unapologetic hybrid that is old as the hills but fresh as the morning dew. This is new music with the old feeling. SteelDrivers fan Vince Gill describes the band’s fusion as simply “an incredible combination.”
Del McCoury Band
Regularly drawing SRO crowds which run the gamut from tie-dyed’n’patchouli neo-hippie jammers to button-down Yuppies to suspendered good ol’ boys, The Del McCoury Band may well boast the broadest, most inclusive fan base this side of the Grateful Dead. They are undeniably one of the most talented, revered and vital groups in bluegrass history (and one of the most potent bands in any field today). No less than The Washington Post recently called Del “a national treasure”, while numerous music publications have credited The Del McCoury Band with increasing the bluegrass “hip factor," generating much of the genre's steady upswing in popularity with a more youthful crowd. He’s equally welcome at traditional bluegrass festivals, jam band gatherings, and the most prestigious music venues in America—from Merlefest, to Bonnaroo to Carnegie Hall.
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