Levitt AMP Whitesburg Music Series

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Levitt AMP Whitesburg Music Series

The Levitt AMP Whitesburg Music Series is back at the Mountain Heritage Stage in downtown Whitesburg. These family-friendly, free outdoor concerts occur Thursdays from June 1-July 28. The music starts at 6:30 p.m. with headliners at 7:30. The Farmers Market and community meal start at 5pm.

The lineup for these 10 concerts represents a diverse mix of genres and performers that include Grammy and Blues Music award winners, rising stars in R&B, Americana and alternative rock, and well-known favorites from right here in Eastern Kentucky, according to a statement from concert organizers.

The 10 headliners are:

• Laid Back Country Picker. Laid Back Country Picker plays good music and treats everybody right. He has one boot in old school country and the other in ‘70s guitar rock. Blurring the lines with wit, humor and hot picking, LB is his own genre. June 1.

• S.G. Goodman. When the Kentucky native released her debut album, Old Time Feeling, she was rightly coined an “untamed rock n roll truth-teller” by Rolling Stone. The roots-inflected rock n’ roll record saw Goodman lending her gritty, haunting vocals to narrate the dual perspectives of her upbringing as the daughter of a crop farmer, and a queer woman coming out in a rural town. June 8.

• Selwyn Birchwood. Winner of the Blues Music Award, Living Blues Critics' Award and Blues Blast Rising Star Award. The young guitar and lap steel player calls his original music “electric swamp funkin’ blues,” defined by raw and soulful musicianship played with fire-and-brimstone fervor. His soulful vocals draw his audience deep inside his unforgettable tales of love, passion, pain and pleasure. June 15.

• Cowan Creek Mountain Music School. For twenty one years the Cowan Mountain Music School has provided an opportunity for anyone to learn from some of America's preeminent old-time and traditional musicians. The faculty concert is a can't miss featuring Carla Gover, Earl White, Bernadette NicGammon, Jesse Wells and more. June 22.

• Tami Neilson. It's always fun to hear how people describe Tami Neilson when they first hear her perform. As one member of the press exclaimed, she is “a red-hot honky-tonker landing somewhere between Patsy Cline and Wanda Jackson with a little bit of Peggy Lee sophistication.” June 29.

• Making Movies.This Latin Grammy winning band that makes American music with an asterisk: because Making Movies’ sound encompasses the entirety of the Americas. It’s through this broader perspective that Making Movies crunches classic rock into Latin

American rhythms — African-derived percussion and styles like rumba, merengue, mambo and cumbia — in a way that feels oddly familiar, yet delivers the invigorating chills of hearing something singularly special. July 6.

• Marcella Simien. A unique talent from a multi-generational music making family. Marcella takes the musical gumbo she was raised in and blends in a healthy portion of Memphis blues to create a singular and intoxicating sound. July 13.

• The Sensational Barnes Brothers. The sons of one of the Rayettes, Ray Charles backing singers, the Barnes Brothers combine the classic Stax sound with a blend of gospel that speaks straight to the soul. R&B lovers should not miss! July 20.

• Senora May. A native Kentuckian, Senora is a singer/songwriter whose songs evoke the otherworldly aspects of day to day mountain life. Her critically acclaimed albums will provide the backbone of her set supported by some of the region’s most outstanding musicians. July 27.

• Sundy Best. We bring the 2023 series to a close with one of Kentucky’s most loved duos, Sundy Best. After taking some time off, Nick and Kris are back together with an outstanding album and a renewed vision. We couldn’t be happier to present them for a special Friday show to end the season . July 28.

The Levitt AMP Whitesburg Music Series is a project of the Cowan Community Center with partners the City of Whitesburg, the Mountain Heritage Festival Committee, Appalshop, Letcher Tourism, Whitesburg Farmers Market and CANE Kitchen.

The series is supported in part by the Levitt Foundation, which partners with communities across America to activate underused public spaces through the power of free live music, creating welcoming, inclusive destinations where people of all ages and backgrounds come together. For more information, www. levitt.org.

A ten concert music series requires robust funding. The Levitt Foundation provides the seed. But it’s a wide array of corporations, foundations, local businesses and individuals who believe in a healthy community who turn that seed into ten weeks of free world class music.

Appalachian Regional Healthcare is the presenting sponsor of the series. The platinum sponsors are double kwik, Appalachian Impact Fund, Hunt Brothers Pizza, Mark Energy, and CANE Kitchen. Gold sponsors are Kentucky Power, Appalachian Wireless, Cumberland Gap Water and Matt Butler Law.

Silver sponsors are Mountain Association, Parkway Pharmacy, Artemes, Annie's Frugal Finery, TVS Cable, Horn & Associates Drilling, Whitaker Bank, Community Trust Bank, Hicks & Funfsinn Law, Senior Solutions and Bell Engineering.

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