Bluegrass in Motion: Adapting for a New Era – Where’s the Bluegrass in CT? April 2025

Learn Bluegrass with the best this April 3-6!

Fiddle Hell Online will have 170 live workshops to learn from, 25 live concerts to enjoy, and 25 live jam sessions to join on Zoom, for fiddle, mandolin, cello, guitar, banjo, & singing. Info and registration (and discounts) at https://FiddleHell.org. Replays available for 3-9 months!

Darol Anger, Sharon Gilchrist, David Benedict, Ron Stewart, Grant Gordy and more!

Do you play bluegrass fiddle, mandolin, banjo, guitar, or cello?

If you join us at Fiddle Hell Online, April 3-6, you’ll learn great bluegrass tunes, traditional playing styles, invaluable techniques, and interesting history – and widen your smile! Many more styles, too. Enjoy 193 live workshops, 27 jams, and 30 concerts – and 3 months of free replays – with 100 world-class artists. Seniors & young musicians get discounts at https://fiddlehell.org

Use discount code FIDDLEFRIEND for 20% off!

Connecticut Bluegrass Association Founder Austin Scelzo presents “Modernizing the Regional Bluegrass Association” with other expert panelists

“Explore best practices for a successful and impactful 21st century bluegrass association including activities, membership benefits, festival/jam maps, funding and outreach, and useful website resources/links. Keep in touch throughout the year by joining a global forum at CTbluegrass.com/forum. “

Modernizing the Regional Bluegrass Association – Austin Scelzo

Watch the Replay Here

Where’s the Bluegrass in CT? April 2025

April 5 Sweetcake Mountain at Swamp Yankee Stomp

Sweetcake Mountain hopes to see you at the Hope & Harmony Fundraising Concert on Saturday, April 5, 7-9:30 pm, at South Britain Congregational Church, 693 South Britain Rd. (Route 172) in Southbury, CT. The event benefits a family who came to Waterbury in 2018 from a war-torn country in the Middle East. Opening for Sweetcake Mountain will be Woodbury native and Massachusetts-based touring artist Jake Klar. Hope & Harmony is sponsored by Team Nilab, a Woodbury-based grassroots refugee assistance group, in coordination with the Outreach Committee of South Britain Congregational Church. If you can’t attend, please consider contributing here: https://givebutter.com/hopeandharmonyconcert?

Amy Gallatin & Stillwaters

Saturday, April 5 from 6–8:30 pm at Art and Soul Concert Series, Unitarian Universalist Church, 328 Paddock Ave Meriden, CT

New England’s veteran musicians: Rock Hearts

In concert Sunday, April 6, at 7 pm, at Cafe Amici, 1640 Whitney Ave., Hamden, CT. Tickets $30 here: https://guitartownct.ticketleap.com/rock-hearts-band/ 

Hosmer Mountain Boys 

Free 1-hour Show on April 8 from 6:30-7:30 PM at the Community Cultural Center, 50 Chapman Place, East Hartford. Tuesday Night Tunes monthly free concert series from January through April. All concerts are free for the public.

Marty Stuart and His Fabulous Superlatives

Saturday, April 26 at 8 pm at The Ridgefield Playhouse  Buy Tickets 

Country Music Hall of Famer, five-time Grammy-winner, and AMA Lifetime Achievement honoree Marty Stuart picks up where he left off on Altitude, his first new album in five years, exploring a cosmic country landscape populated by dreamers and drifters, misfits and angels, honky-tonk heroes and lonesome lovers. There’s a desert flare to the music here, a sweeping, spacious feel that conjures up wide-open horizons and endless stretches of two-lane highway, and the production is raw and cinematic to match, tipping its cap both to Bakersfield and Laurel Canyon as it balances jangle and twang in equal measure.

On the Trail with G Rockwell Band

Saturday, April 26, from 7–10 pm at Small Batch Cellars, 37 Nettleton Ave, North Haven, CT.

On the Trail at Ridgefield Folk Series

Sunday, April 27 from 3–5 pm at Ridgefield Library, 472 Main St, Ridgefield, CT.

Old Crow Medicine Show

Wednesday, May 7 at 8 pm at The Ridgefield Playhouse Buy Tickets 

Old Crow Medicine Show has emerged as one of the most prominent and influential forces in American roots music. The two-time Grammy Award-winning band has toured with the likes of Willie Nelson and John Prine, all while amassing an acclaimed catalog that includes their double-platinum hit single “Wagon Wheel,” one of the most widely sung folk songs in history and RIAA-certified as one of the Top Five Country Singles of All Time.

Bluegrass, Old-Time and Americana Festivals in the Northeast

For a more in-depth list:  Jim’s Roots and Blues Complete Festival List

Bluegrass Lyrics Online

Ad-Free Lyrics for Traditional Bluegrass and Early Country Songs

Bluegrass Lyrics

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CT Bluegrass Jams in April / May

Burlington/Bloomfield

Yankee Bluegrass Jammers, every Wednesday from 7 to 10 PM. Location is either Elton Tavern, 781 George Washington Tpk., Burlington, CT, or Auer Farm, 158 Auer Farm Rd, Bloomfield, CT. To learn where this week’s jam is, contact Carl Salsedo (carl.salsedo@uconn.edu) or Andy Szpekman.(andy@ahscommunications.com).

East Hampton

Monthly on the third Sunday at Dexter’s Tune, Tales & Ales, 1 – 4 PM.

Easton

Second Thursday 7:30 – 10 PM, 59 Church Road, Easton, CT.

East Haven 

Tuesday April 1 (first Tuesday of month), 6-8:30 PM, Shore Line Trolley Museum, 17 River St, East Haven, CT. A musical rendezvous that celebrates the soulful rhythms and spirited tunes of bluegrass. Whether you’re a seasoned musician or simply love the melodies, there’s a spot for you in this gathering. Come with friends, or venture solo – all are welcome!

Hamden

Sunday, March 23, 3-5:30 PM at Best Video, 1842 Whitney Ave., Hamden, CT. Come to pick, or come to listen.

Katonah, NY

Sunday, 1-4 PM – select Sundays at Katonah Library.

Wethersfield

Pitkin Community Center, 30 Greenfield Street, Wethersfield, CT 6:30-9:30 PM. Room S-3. First and third Tuesday of each month. There is a $3 suggested donation to cover the cost of the room. All levels welcome. Acoustic instruments only. Wernick jam etiquette is followed (announce your song with key, etc).

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Mandolin Camp North, April 21-23 

Banjo Camp North, May 19-21 

Register for either camp here https://musiccampsnorth.com/2023-registration-information/ Know any fiddle players? We have classes at both camps but not many students. Encourage your fiddling friends to sign up! Thank you all who have registered; we can’t do this without you. Scholarship applications will open soon. You can apply even if you’ve already signed up. Look for another email and a link on our website.

Scholarship applications opening soon!

Please do apply. We have money donated so you can come to camp even if you can’t afford it. We offer partial and full scholarships depending on the number and content of the applications. 

Mandolin Camp North with Guitar and Fiddle Classes 
Don Stiernberg, Jacob Jolliff, Sharon Gilchrist, Jim Richter, Maddie Witler, Skip Gorman, Don Julin, Lauren Price Napier, Ben Pearce, Moriah Ozberkmen, Ethan Setiawan, Claudine Languile, Bill Thibodeau, Lorraine Hammond

Guitar teachers: John Kael, Joe Newberry, Tony Watt, Lincoln Meyers, Alex Rubin

Fiddle teachers: Annie Staninec, Austin Scelzo, Janie Rothfield, Louise Bichan

Banjo Camp North with Fiddle Classes 
3-finger style teachers: Tony Trischka, Alan Munde, BB Bowness, Bill Evans, Murphy Henry, Grace Van’t Hof, Gabe Hirshfeld, Rich Stillman, Gretchen Bowder, Scott Hopkins, Glenn Nelson, Bruce Stockwell, Max Wareham

Clawhammer teachers: Bruce Molsky, Chris Coole, Riley Baugus, Michael Miles, Lorraine Hammond, Tim Rowell, Sara Grey, Howie Bursen, Maggie Shar, Craig Edwards, Bennett Hammond.


Fiddle teachers: Janie Rothfield, John Showman, Steve Roy, Ella Jordan.

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