Naperville Bluegrass Festival makes its debut March 25-26

Posted March 21, 2022 11:00 pm

Submitted by Midwest Bluegrass

Two-time Grammy Award nominee Special Consensus, which celebrated its 45th anniversary in 2020 with the release of "Chicago Barn Dance," will perform at Naperville Bluegrass Festival. Courtesy of Jamey Guy

Midwest Bluegrass is hosting its inaugural Naperville Bluegrass Festival on March 25-26 at the Lisle-Naperville Sheraton, 3000 Warrenville Road in Lisle. The festival was originally scheduled for 2020 but postponed due to the pandemic.

It will feature five bands: The Gibson Brothers, The Special Consensus, Darin & Brooke Aldridge, Tim Graves and the Farm Hands, and The Baker Family.

The first Naperville Bluegrass Festival will feature bluegrass duo Gibson Brothers (Leigh and Eric Gibson), who were named back-to-back Entertainers of the Year by the International Bluegrass Music Association in 2012-13. Courtesy of Alysse Gafkjen

The bluegrass duo Gibson Brothers, featuring Leigh and Eric Gibson, were named back-to-back Entertainers of the Year by the International Bluegrass Music Association in 2012-13. Their 2018 country-soul breakout album "Mockingbird" is the duo's first album cut with Black Keys frontman Dan Auerbach's record label Easy Eye Sound.

Two-time Grammy Award nominee Special Consensus celebrated its 45th anniversary in 2020 with the release of "Chicago Barn Dance," exploring the long-standing connection of country and bluegrass music with Chicago from the time of the WLS "National Barn Dance," a precursor to the Grand Ole Opry.

The bluegrass and Americana duo Darin and Brooke Aldridge, a 2021 nominee for the International Bluegrass Music Association's Vocal Group of the Year, will be coming to Naperville for the Bluegrass Festival. Courtesy of Darin and Brooke Aldridge

Darin and Brooke Aldridge, a husband-and-wife bluegrass and Americana duo, released their ninth recorded project together in 2021, "This Life We're Livin'." The duo were a 2021 nominee for the International Bluegrass Music Association's Vocal Group of the Year. Brooke, a former runner-up on TV's "Nashville Star," is a four-time consecutive winner of the Vocalist of the Year for the International Bluegrass Music Association. Once a six-year member of The Country Gentlemen with the late Charlie Waller, Darin is a former IBMA Mentor of the Year and a gifted singer and multi-instrumentalist.

Tim Graves, Grammy Award winner and 2015 Bluegrass Music Hall of Fame winner, will be joined by The Farm Hands at the Naperville Bluegrass Festival. Courtesy of Julz Lynn Photography

Since their inception in 2010, Tim Graves and The Farm Hands has received more than 75 award nominations, winning 34 major awards, including Bluegrass Gospel Band of the Year at the 2019 and 2020 Bluegrass Music Awards.

The Baker Family, a bluegrass band, features Trustin on fiddle, Elijah on guitar and upright bass, Carina on mandolin and fiddle, and Carrie on upright bass and guitar. They were featured on the 12th season on "America's Got Talent," and on PBS "Great American Bluegrass." They were the 2016 International Country Gospel Music Association's Bluegrass Band of the Year.

The Baker Family, a bluegrass band from south central Missouri features Trustin on fiddle, Elijah on guitar and upright bass, Carina on mandolin and fiddle, and Carrie on upright bass and guitar. Courtesy of The Baker Family

There will be an open mic at 11 a.m. Saturday.

There also will be three instrument raffles, including a guitar built and donated by Sandwich luthier John Ressler.

Down Home Guitars in Frankfort, Ill., has donated a Deering Banjo and an Eastman Mandolin.

Seating for the shows will begin at 6 p.m. Friday; the Saturday afternoon shows starting at noon; or the Saturday evening shows starting at 6 p.m. All the bands perform at all the shows.

Reserved seating is $93 for both days or $73 for individual shows. General seating is $88 or $68. Surcharges will be added for online purchases.

For tickets, visit www.midwestbluegrass.org/ticket-info.

For information, email MidwestBluegrass@gmail.com call (815) 383-9329.

Follow www.facebook.com/NapervilleBluegrassFestival/.

The mission of Midwest Bluegrass, a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization, is to promote bluegrass music and raise funds to begin a youth bluegrass camp the Midwest. Any proceeds will go back to producing new events.

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