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Boundary County, get ready for bluegrass! |
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September 11, 2014 |
Your chance to be in attendance and enjoy, live
and in person, an internationally-recognized
bluegrass band is coming up in just a couple of
weeks, right here in Bonners Ferry.
The Special Consensus, a
well-known bluegrass band, will perform at the
high school auditorium as part of the kickoff
for a year long celebration of Traditional
American Music. This program has been put
together by the Boundary County School District
band program. More on that program a little
later in this story.
So who is The Special Consensus? They are a band
traveling to Boundary County
 that
you won't want to miss if you enjoy Bluegrass
Music, or if you just appreciate the opportunity
to broaden your musical experience just a
little.
The Special Consensus 2012 album Scratch
Gravel Road was nominated for a Grammy
Award for the Best Bluegrass Album of the Year.
But they didn't stop there--their newest album,
Country Boy: A Bluegrass Tribute to John
Denver, just received three 2014 award
nominations from the International Bluegrass
Music Association, including a nomination for
Best Recorded Event of the Year, and a
nomination for Best Instrumental of the Year.
These guys have got to be good!
Here's some of what they're saying about this
band:
"Talent like this is the property of the world."
--David Royko, Chicago Tribune
"This project is marked by a consistent
excellence beginning to end. To miss it is to
miss one of the best, if not the best release of
the year."
--Bluegrass Unlimited (reviewing
Special Consensus 2012 album Scratch Gravel
Road).
The opening act for The Special Consensus is a
Spokane-based bluegrass band, Devin Pace
and the Early Edition. This group is
happy playing as the opening
 act,
just so they could meet and play for The Special
Consensus.
How did this burst of bluegrass end up coming to
Bonners Ferry? This is the first installment of
a special music curriculum for the Band Program
of our local school district. This program is a
partnership between the school district, led by
school band director Jessica Hanna (working with
community volunteer Barbara Castellan), the
Kootenai Tribe of Idaho, the Boundary County
Library, and several hard-working students and
parents.
This collaborative team has put together what
they are calling "a year of Traditional American
Music." Throughout the year, four different
Traditional American Music artist groups will
come to Boundary County. Along with performing a
public concert, these various groups will
present workshops and dialogues with middle
school and high school band students, and
interact directly and personally with our
students.
The upcoming visit from The Special Consensus is
the first of the performers visiting our
community as part of this program.
Future Traditional American Music groups coming
to our area will include Native American music,
Gospel / Spiritual Music, and Jazz.
With educational funding stretched so thin these
days, it is hoped this project will bring high
quality curriculum and needed financial
resources to support the music education of our
Boundary County youth. As an added bonus, the
community will have the opportunity to
experience the artistry of these talented
visiting musicians, while at the same time
supporting the project with their ticket
purchases.
Plan on spending an evening immersed in
bluegrass (you'll love the banjo playing of
Special Consensus' Greg Cahill, recently named
as an adjunct professor of banjo by Columbia
College in Chicago, a highly regarded arts
learning institution).
The concert is scheduled for Tuesday, September
23, at 7:00 p.m., at the Bonners Ferry High School auditorium.
Tickets are available at Bonners Books, Mountain
Mike's, or online at
www.brownpapertickets.com
Ticket prices are Tier 1 $20, Tier 2 $15, Tier 3
$10. |
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