Concert Schedule - tickets at Brown Paper Tickets

Knoxville Square Dance

Spring Lizards

Thursday, February 13, 8 p.m.

Join our Appalachian square dance with live old-time music by the Spring Lizards and calling by Leo Collins and Stan Sharp. No experience is necessary and the atmosphere is casual. No taps, please.

$5 JCA Members & Seniors • $7 General Admission

The Smoky Mountaineers

^{Old-Time String Band}

Saturday, February 15, 8 p.m.

Frank Lee, Allie Lee and Bradley Adams of the legendary Freight Hoppers are joined by Knoxville fiddler Frank Bronson for powerful old-time and bluegrass music. Frank Lee has played banjo since he was eighteen years old. He founded the influential old time band the Freight Hoppers in the mid-nineties. Allie Lee was a founding member of the Whipstitch Sallies and has played with Frank and the Freight Hoppers since 2016. Bradley Adams was a founding member of regional acts Sawmill Creek and Commonfolk and a member of the Freight Hoppers from 2008 to 2016. Frank Bronson, son of old-time fiddler Ken Bronson, started playing fiddle at age three and performs regularly with the Tennessee Stifflegs.

$12 JCA Members, Students, Seniors • $13 General Advance
$15 General Day of Show • $8 Children 12 & under

Sparky and Rhonda Rucker

African-American Music Traditions

Saturday, February 22, 8 p.m.

Presenting traditional blues and folk repertoires from Civil War days to the present, Sparky Rucker is a highly accomplished banjoist, guitarist, storyteller, historian and humorist. Having learned his craft from master musicians John Shines, Rev. Pearly Brown and Homer Walker, Sparky is proficient in Delta, Piedmont and Mountain acoustic traditions. Harmonica player and vocalist Rhonda Rucker joins Sparky. Her blues-style harmonica, piano, old-time banjo, and bones add musical versatility to their performances. Rhonda has just released a new historical novel Welcome to Bombingham.

$12 JCA Members, Students, Seniors • $13 General Advance
$15 General Day of Show • $8 Children 12 & under

Kukuly & the Gypsy Fuego

Vintage Jazz

Friday, February 28, 8 p.m.

Kukuly and the Gypsy Fuego is a Knoxville based acoustic ensemble that plays hot jazz inspired by the music of legendary French Gypsy guitarist Django Reinhardt, and jazz violinist Stéphane Grappelli. The band’s extensive repertoire includes swing standards, ballads, bossa novas, tangos, waltzes, Latin songs and other vintage-jazz sources done in uniquely arranged styles. Playing everything from Django Reinhardt through Gerswhin and Antonio Carlos Jobim. The band’s lineup includes guitarist and vocalist Kukuly Uriarte; violinist Seth Hopper; guitarist and vocalist David Bivens and cello player Andy Bryenton.

$12 JCA Members, Students, Seniors • $13 General Advance
$15 General Day of Show • $8 Children 12 & under

^{Leroy Troy}

The Tennessee Slicker

Friday, March 6, 8 p.m.

Leroy Troy delivers a strong solo old-time banjo performance in the tradition of Uncle Dave Macon, Grandpa Jones and Stringbean. At sixteen he began studying with Middle Tennessee banjoist Cordell Kemp who had in turn learned much from Macon himself; at seventeen he dazzled a nationwide audience on the hit TV show Hee Haw with his banjo expertise and natural gift of comedy.

$12 JCA Members, Students, Seniors • $13 General Advance
$15 General Day of Show • $8 Children 12 & under

Bill and the Belles

Old-Time & 1920s Song

Saturday, March 7, 8 p.m.

With striking three-part harmonies and masterful instrumentation, Bill and the Belles skillfully present the sounds of early country music. The Johnson City based group focus on the music traditions of their region, from sentimental Southern ballads to the popular songs of Tin Pan Alley to regional fiddle breakdowns. A Bill and the Belles show is a celebration of the diversity country music once represented.

$12 JCA Members, Students, Seniors • $13 General Advance
$15 General Day of Show • $8 Children 12 & under

Knoxville Square Dance

Music by the Spring Lizards

Thursday, March 12, 8 p.m.

The Knoxville Square Dance is back on second Thursdays at the Laurel. Traditional regional square dance, with fine old-time music by the Spring Lizards and callers Leo Collins and Stan Sharp. No experience or partner is necessary and the atmosphere is casual. No taps, please.

$5 JCA Members & Students • $7 General Admission

51th Jubilee Festival

A celebration of traditional music

Saturday-Sunday, March 21-22

JCA showcases some of the finest practitioners of mountain music across the generations, home grown in our own back yard. Saturday and Sunday nights we will have old-time string bands and plenty of jamming in the basement. This year’s festival includes plenty of old-time with some blues, early jazz and traditional song and the annual Epworth Old Harp Singing on Sunday afternoon. See the full schedule here.

The Jubilee Festival is part of the Penny4Arts Program — with the advance purchase of one adult ticket through our regular ticket outlets up to three children’s tickets may be purchased for a penny each. Penny tickets are limited and must be reserved in advance through the JCA office at 522-5851.

Kelle Jolly

and the Will Boyd Project

Saturday, April 4, 8 p.m.

Originally from South Carolina, Kelle and her saxophonist husband Will Boyd make their home in Knox County. Kelle’s music influences include Sister Rosetta Tharpe, Nina Simone and Sarah Vaughan, and her repertoire includes early regional women blues and sacred singers, among them Knoxvillians Leola Manning and Ida Cox. Kelle is host of “Jazz Jam with Kelle Jolly” on WUOT 91.9. Will Boyd is a member of the Knoxville Jazz Orchestra.

$12 JCA Members, Students, Seniors • $13 General Advance
$15 General Day of Show • $8 Children 12 & under

Knoxville Square Dance

Spring Lizards

Thursday, April 9, 8 p.m.

Join our Appalachian square dance with live old-time music by the Spring Lizards and calling by Leo Collins and Stan Sharp. No experience is necessary and the atmosphere is casual. No taps, please.

$5 JCA Members & Seniors • $7 General Admission

Don Don and Po Show

Bluegrass and Swing

Saturday, April 11, 8 p.m.

The Don Don and Po Show brings together Don Cassell, Don Woods and Barry “Po” Hannah, all highly respected local musicians. Mandolinist Don Cassell is known for his work with the Dismembered Tennesseans, the Tennessee Sheiks and Strange Company, Don Woods plays guitar with the Tennessee Sheiks and the Lone Mountain Drifters, and Barry “Po” Hannah plays guitar with RB Morris, Tim Lee and others. They will be joined by Jeremy Carriger on bass.

$12 JCA Members, Students, Seniors • $13 General Advance
$15 General Day of Show • $8 Children 12 & under

Kevin Burke

^{Irish Fiddle}

Saturday, April 18, 8 p.m.

Kevin Burke has earned international acclaim in both Europe and America as a solo performer, a teacher and as a member of some of the Irish music revival’s foremost groups including the Bothy Band, Celtic Fiddle Festival and Patrick Street. He has been the recipient of many awards including Ireland’s “Gradam Ceoil” Traditional Musician of the Year and a National Heritage Fellowship, the USA’s highest honor for excellence in the folk and traditional arts.

$16 JCA Members, Students, Seniors • $17 General Advance
$21 General Day of Show • $11 Children 12 & under

Jamie Laval

Music of Scotland & Ireland

Saturday, April 25, 8 p.m.

Fiddler Jamie Laval presents an evening of music from Scotland, Ireland, and Brittany. Jamie gave a private performance for Her Majesty the Queen, appeared on Dave Matthews’ platinum Some Devil album, and presented a TEDx Talk on the value of arts and music in our communities. Murmurs and Drones, Laval’s 2012 release, won the popular vote for “Best World Traditional Album” in the Independent Music Awards. Laval’s newest album, Celtic Christmas was released in December 2019 to critical acclaim.

$19 JCA Members, Students, Seniors • $20 General Advance
$24 General Day of Show • $12 Children 12 & Under

Jay Clark & the Tennessee Tree Beavers

Topical Song

Friday, May 1, 8 p.m.

Jay Clark has been a staple in the East Tennessee music scene for more than 20 years, supplementing his career as a scientist with performing his songs across the Southeast and Southern Appalachia. Jay recently released his fifth recording, Of Mountains & Heartbreak. He will be joined by Greg Horne on lead guitar and Daniel Kimbro on upright bass.

$12 JCA Members, Students, Seniors • $13 General Advance
$15 General Day of Show • $8 Children 12 & under

Dom Flemons

American Songster

Saturday, May 9, 8 p.m.

Dom is a music scholar, historian, record collector and a multi-instrumentalist, with a repertoire of music covering over 100 years of American folklore, ballads, and tunes. He plays banjo, fife, guitar, harmonica, jug, percussion, quills, and rhythm bones. In 2018, Flemons released the Grammy nominated solo album Dom Flemons Presents Black Cowboys on Smithsonian Folkways part of the African American Legacy Recordings series, co-produced with the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture. In 2005 Dom co-founded the Carolina Chocolate Drops who won a Grammy for “Best Traditional Folk Album” in 2010 and were nominated for “Best Folk Album” in 2012. While with the band he performed at the Laurel Theater. He left the group to pursue his solo career in 2014. Dom’s debut appearance on the Grand Ole Opry was in 2018.

$16 JCA Members, Students, Seniors • $17 General Advance
$21 General Day of Show