The popular Shane Center Presents series kicks off a new season of performances with a show featuring Americana outfit Kristen Grainger & True North. The show is set for Saturday, February 15th. Music begins at 7:30pm.
Fronted by award-winning song crafter Kristen Grainger, the Americana folk powerhouse includes Dan Wetzel on guitar and octave mandolin, Martin Stevens on mandolin, octave mandolin, and fiddle, and Josh Adkins on bass – and everybody sings.
The band showcased at SXSW in 2022 on the USA Songwriting stage, and Grainger continues to earn more national songwriting honors, most recently at Common Ground on the Hill and Hope Rises, a tribute to excellence in social change songwriting curated by Noel “Paul” Stookey of Peter, Paul & Mary.
A songwriter whose star continues to rise, Grainger was named, alongside Brandi Carlile and Dolly Parton, one of the “Women Who Wrote Our 2020 Soundtrack” by The Bluegrass Situation. She won first place in the 2020 USA Songwriting Competition (folk), and she has won or been a finalist in national songwriting contests at Telluride Bluegrass Festival, Wildflower Festival, Merlefest and Kerrville New Folk. Prior to becoming a full-time musician, Grainger served as vice president of Willamette University in Salem, Oregon, and speechwriter for two Oregon governors.
An accomplished singer-songwriter who toured nationally as a solo artist, Dan Wetzel is also a luthier who handcrafts musical instruments, including those used in performance, that look and sound beautiful. His superb skills as a vocalist and on guitar, both flat-pick and fingerstyle, give True North’s songs their fat sound and driving groove.
Martin Stevens grew up in the Old Time Fiddlers contest community, winning several state and regional championships during his childhood. His first two bluegrass groups, Athena & the River City Boys and Molly Adkins & Martin Stevens, performed for several years at bluegrass festivals in the Pacific Northwest. A silky-voiced singer and stellar fiddle and mandolin player, he was a co-founder of the Bluegrass Regulators, releasing two albums and performing all over the country, most notably as one of the IBMA showcase artists.
Josh Adkins cut his teeth, musically speaking, alongside Martin in the Bluegrass Regulators. A multi-instrumentalist and vocalist of considerable skill and versatility, he delivers a solid bass groove that is anything but mundane. A monster musical talent, Adkins’ superpower is his knack for arrangement, finding the missing piece, vocally or instrumentally, that best showcases the song.
Advance tickets are available at www.theshanecenter.org. The show is sponsored by Walter & Regina Wunsch and Spectec TIC. •
