Alabama bluegrass association moves Showcase of Bands to Hoover

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People who love bluegrass music will have a chance to hear a whole lot of foot-tapping tunes this Saturday at Spain Park High School.

The Alabama Bluegrass Music Association is holding its 20th annual Showcase of Bands this Saturday from 10 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. at the school. Fourteen bands are scheduled to play from 11 a.m. to 6:30 p.m.

For the past 19 years, the showcase has been held at the Bessemer Civic Center, but organizers decided to move it in hopes of getting better attendance, said David Boley, president of the association.

Plus, the acoustics in the Spain Park High School theater should be better than they were at the Bessemer Civic Center, Boley said.

The band lineup includes Iron Horse, which Boley said is nationally recognized in bluegrass circles and has done two tours in Europe. Iron Horse, which is known for transposing heavy metal music into bluegrass, will be playing with Jake Landers, an 80-year-old accomplished singer and songwriter from Sheffield.

The showcase also will include Glen Tolbert, a staple in the guitar-picking world since the early 1970s, with The Allen Tolbert Unit. Craig Morris, a banjo player who was the first president of the Alabama Bluegrass Music Association, will be performing with King Cotton, a group originally from the Birmingham area that now lives in the Nashville area, Boley said.

The Showcase of Bands will begin with workshops providing instruction on how to play a variety of bluegrass instruments, including the guitar, mandolin, banjo, dobro, fiddle and acoustic bass, Boley said.

The workshops all will take place simultaneously from 10 to 11:30 a.m., with 30 minutes of instruction for beginners, 30 minutes of instruction for intermediate players and 30 minutes of instruction for advanced players, Boley said.

There also will be jam sessions throughout the day in the halls, cafeteria and courtyard, he said. The event in past years has drawn 400 to 500 people, he said.

“It’ll put a smile on your face,” Boley said. “When you sit and listen to acoustic music live and in person, it’s something you’ll fall in love with.”

He did when he first went to the Horse Pens 40 Festival in Steele in 1972, he said.

Admission to the band showcase costs $10 for Alabama Bluegrass Music Association members and $15 for non-members. The workshops cost $20 for non-members but are free for members. Membership costs $25.

A portion of the proceeds from the showcase will go to Children’s of Alabama hospital, Boley said. There also will be barbecue and plates of meat and three vegetables available for sale by Bluegrass Barbeque of Moody.

All of the bands playing in the showcase are members of the Alabama Bluegrass Music Association. Here is the complete lineup:

  • 11 a.m. — Roots 2 Grass
  • 11:30 a.m. — Crossing Grass
  • Noon — Incoherent Ramblers
  • 12:30 p.m. — Renfroe Mountain Medicine Show
  • 1 p.m. — Southern Bluegrass
  • 1:30 p.m. — Blackrock Station
  • 2 p.m. — Brighter Day
  • 2:30 p.m. — Big Canoe Creek
  • 3 p.m. — Solid Blue
  • 3:30 p.m. — Glen Tolbert with The Allen Tolbert Unit
  • 4 p.m. — Craig Morris and King Cotton
  • 4:30 p.m. — Tomorrow’s Bluegrass Stars: The Tenos
  • 5 p.m. — Clear Blue Sky
  • 5:30 p.m. — Iron Horse with Jake Landers

For more information about the Showcase of Bands or the Alabama Bluegrass Music Association, go to alabamabluegrassmusic.org.