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Celebrating 17 years in Historic Downtown, Border Bash—Bristol’s premier spring/summer concert series—is back for another amazing season starting May 20, 2016! Hosted by Believe in Bristol, the Birthplace of Country Music, and the Cities of Bristol, Virginia and Tennessee, Border Bash is about fun, family, great music, and creating memories to last a lifetime.
Border Bash takes place on State Street in Historic Downtown Bristol. Vendors and activities set up at 6:30 p.m. and live music begins at 7:00 p.m. Admission is FREE!
Border Bash is a free community event supported by the Cities of Bristol, Virginia/Tennessee, Anne and Ben Cowan, Bank of Tennessee, Blackbird Bakery, Blakley-Mitchell Co., Brown, Edwards & Co., Camellia Digital, Coca-Cola Bottling Company, Express AV Productions, New Peoples Bank, Renasant Bank, Revolution Curbside Recycling, Strongwell Corporation, The Bristol Hotel: McCall Capital, LLC, Tom and Barbara Smith/ Merrill Lynch, Tri City Tent and Event, Walling Distributing, Wells Fargo and media sponsors Bristol Herald Courier, WBCM Radio Bristol, 99.3 The X, Electric 94.9 FM, WCYB-5, and WXBQ 96.9 FM.
About Front Country:
What started as a reluctant band of some of the hottest young pickers in the SF Bay Area has transformed into a hard-touring powerhouse Roots-Pop ensemble that is stretching the boundaries of Bluegrass and Americana until they break. Lead singer, Melody Walker, is a force of nature onstage, wrapping audiences around her big bluesy vocals and extemporaneous undulations until they scream for more. Along with mandolinist Adam Roszkiewicz, guitarist Jacob Groopman, violinist Leif Karlstrom and bassist Jeremy Darrow, Front Country uses every inch of it’s stringband instrumentation to explore textures and dynamics from chamber folk to rock and roll, with earnest, open harmonies that have been called “passionately intoxicating”. Their original songwriting and hand-selected covers lean toward a bold pop and rock perspective that is unique in the roots music realm. After winning the Telluride and RockyGrass band contests in 2013, and releasing their first album “Sake of the Sound” in 2014, Front Country decided to take its potential to the next level, becoming a full-time band and playing over 100 shows and festivals in 2015. Highlights this year included Grey Fox, MerleFest, Strawberry, Bluegrass Underground and a first UK Tour, as well as sharing the stage with the Steep Canyon Rangers and the Traveling McCourys. Heading into 2016, the band will see dates with Hard Working Americans and Leftover Salmon, and several events already on the books, including ROMP, Big Sky Big Grass and headlining winter festivals in Alaska and New York. With a covers EP recorded this summer and slated for release in early 2016, Front Country is currently working on material for their second full-length record to be released in early 2017.
About Rob Nance
Incorporating a wide range of musical styles and instruments- everything from pedal steel guitars to retro Casio synthesizers, Rob made a conscious effort to push his latest release, Signal Fires, into places he had not ventured on his first record. After releasing Lost Souls & Locked Doors — an album rooted mainly in the traditional fingerpicking guitar style of the roots genre— Nance hit the highway, playing shows in more than 20 states in 2014 alone. His brother, upright bassist and pedal steel guitarist Jordan Nance, joined him for most of the gigs with a full band tagging along for special occasions. Being on the road was an eye-opening experience for Nance. As the scenery outside his car window changed, so did the music he found himself listening to. A folk-rock fan that grew up admiring the greats of the genre from the 60s and 70s, Rob began broadening his musical horizons during the hours spent on the highway between towns. He found new influences starting to creep onto his radar, listening to everything from Talking Heads to Father John Misty. Those new influences soon seeped into his own writing, a fact that he could not ignore when it came time to begin work on his sophomore album. Recorded in Asheville, North Carolina, Signal Fires still sounds like a Rob Nance record. The hallmarks of his roots-rock sound — electric guitar tones that could’ve come from the ’70s, melodies delivered in a breezy baritone, lyrics that paint stories of various characters in small, southern towns — haven’t gone away, but they are most certainly joined by some new additions. “At least half of these songs were played on the road before we recorded them,” he says, “and that really shows you where the holes in your songs are. For Signal Fires, we wanted to tighten up and push outward. I think the result is an offering that is both musically diverse and familiar.”
