Southeast Michigan Bluegrass Music Association Announces 2022 Feature Band Danny Paisley and The Southern Grass

 Blissfield, Michigan – November 17, 2021

The Festival will be held at Clara Bachmayer Park in Blissfield, Michigan on August 13, 2022.

The Southeast Michigan Bluegrass Music Association is proud to announce the date and feature band for the Blissfield Bluegrass on the River community festival. The Blissfield Rotary Club is the co-presenting sponsor. This is the 11^th year of the festival that features area bands, local vendors, and local sponsorship. There is no admission charge due to local sponsorships and cooperation from the Village of Blissfield. The festival presents bands from a main stage, additional acts on a side stage, instrument workshops, craft vendors, lost arts demonstrators, a jam area, and the Kiddie Corner featuring Fiddling Dixie with Lil’ Friends. Attendance has increased each year, and the Association is expecting record attendance in 2022.

The featured band is lead by Bluegrass Troubadour Danny Paisley, who was recently named the International Bluegrass Music Association’s male vocalist of the year for the third time. Danny Paisley and the Southern Grass play powerful, unadorned, and intense traditional bluegrass. There is no hybrid or genre-bending music here. Their combination of instrumentation and vocals convey the energy and emotion of classic bluegrass and country music. Danny’s lead vocals will captivate your senses, so much so that many prominent musicians, including Alison Krauss, have considered Danny as one of their favorite singers. His voice combines powerful range and soulful blues with a sound like no one else in Bluegrass today. Since Danny’s father Bob Paisley (founder of Southern Grass) passed away in 2004, Danny Paisley and The Southern Grass have made their niche in the bluegrass world. Producing consecutive chart-topping albums, the group has been received over 15 Bluegrass Music Award Nominations and won the 2009 IBMA Song of the Year for “Don’t Throw Mama’s Flowers Away.”

With Danny Paisley on guitar, Southern Grass continues the family tradition adding Danny’s son Ryan on mandolin, part of the next generation of up-and-coming pickers. Southern Grass continues the rich musical heritage of started by Bob Paisley and Ted Lundy with Lundy’s sons T.J. (Fiddle) and Bobby (Bass and Vocals). T.J. Lundy is a highly respected fiddler bridging the gap between old-time fiddling and bluegrass music. Bobby Lundy is also a renowned multi-instrumentalist who has gained attention for his unique bass style. Southern Grass also includes Mark Delaney (formerly with Randy Waller and the Country Gentlemen, and Darren Beachley & Legends of the Potomac) on banjo.

The Southeast Michigan Bluegrass Music Association was formed in July of 2014 to serve the bluegrass community in the greater Southeast Michigan area and is a 501(c)(3) charity, a Michigan non-profit entity, and a member of the International Bluegrass Music Association. Blissfield Bluegrass on the River is part in our mission of: “Working Together to Preserve and Promote Bluegrass Music”. The Association also awards youth scholarships to deserving young musicians, sponsors jams and workshops, and recognizes those who have made major contributions to bluegrass music in the area with induction into our Hall of Honor.

The Association needs additional sponsorship to continue the Festival. Contact us from the Festival website: www.blissbluegrass.org.

The Association thanks the Blissfield Rotary and the Blissfield Village Council for making continuing the Festival possible and invites the entire community to join us in Blissfield on August 13^th for a day of music and community fellowship.

Please check the festival website – blissbluegrass.org – for more information as it becomes available.

The Kentuckians of Michigan are holding a potluck and jam on Saturday, December 18.  The address is 28391 Bredow Rd., Romulus, Mi 48174. The doors open at 6:30.

Bring the family and a dish to pass. Musicians bring your instruments and join in on the jam.

Plan to attend our next meeting and jam on October 16 at KC Campground. The time is 1 p.m. and the address is 14048 Sherman Road, Milan, MI, 48160. We are looking forward to seeing everyone!

Judy Bentley has offered to create a guitar wall hanging for the Association to raffle. She has the guitar, but it is up to us to collect a variety of old costume jewelry to complete the project. Judy will work on the project during the winter of 21-22 and we will raffle next summer.

If you have any costume jewelry in your stash at home that you are not using, please drop it of to our Association table at Charlotte, Norwalk, Milan or Blissfield. If your are out at garage sales or flea markets, feel free to pick up a few pieces of costume jewelry for this project!

Here is an example that Judy has created.