Bristol, Tenn.-Va. (August 8, 2022) – There are still a few tickets remaining for WBCM Radio Bristol’s Farm and Fun Time variety show this Thursday, Aug. 11, featuring headliner Fireside Collective, a progressive bluegrass outfit from Asheville, North Carolina, and Larry Bellorín & Joe Troop, a Venezuelan-Appalachian duo also based in the Tar Heel state. The live taping of the show will take place in the performance theater at the Birthplace of Country Music Museum at 7 p.m.
Fireside Collective is celebrating the release of the band’s fourth studio album, “Across the Divide,” on the heels of its 2022 New Artist of the Year nomination from the International Bluegrass Music Association. In a recent No Depression review of the record, journalist Nancy Posey writes: “…Fireside Collective has achieved a balance between a traditional and progressive bluegrass sound and, lyrically, between relationships of trust and permanence and disconnected one-night stands.”
Larry Bellorín is a legend of Llanera music. Joe Troop is a GRAMMY-nominated bluegrass and old-time musician. Bellorín was forced into exile and is an asylum seeker in North Carolina. Troop, after a decade in South America, got stranded back in his stomping grounds of North Carolina during the pandemic. His acclaimed “latingrass” band Che Apalache was forced into hiatus, and he shifted into action working with asylum seeking immigrants. Destined to play music together, the versatile, multi-instrumentalists and singer-songwriters came together and now perform a fusion of Venezuelan and Appalachian folk music on harp, banjo, cuatro, fiddle, and whatever else they throw in the van.
Farm and Fun Time is hosted by Radio Bristol Program Director Kris Truelsen and his house band Bill and the Belles. In addition to performing upbeat, musical segues and peppy sponsorship jingles during the program, the group is known for combining a stringband format with their signature harmonies, candid songwriting, and pop sensibilities.
Farm and Fun Time is recorded before a live audience and syndicated for television on Blue Ridge PBS, East Tennessee PBS, and PBS North Carolina. Tickets to the show are $35 and may be purchased by visiting the Events page at BirthplaceOfCountryMusic.org.
Farm and Fun Time can also be accessed in its entirety through WBCM Radio Bristol’s Facebook page, on the air at 100.1 FM in the Bristol area, online at ListenRadioBristol.org or via the station’s free mobile app.