Narrows Center for the Arts

Friday, August 2, 2024 $53 Advance | $55 Day of Show Doors 7pm | Show 8pm For 60 years, South Africa’s five-time Grammy Award winners, Ladysmith Black Mambazo has warmed the hearts of audiences worldwide with uplifting vocal harmonies, signature dance moves and charming onstage banter. It was Paul Simon’s 1987 Graceland album that introduced Ladysmith Black Mambazo to the world. The late former South African President Nelson Mandela designated the group “South Africa’s cultural ambassadors to the world,” a title the members carry with them with the highest honor. In 2018 the group received not one but two Grammy Award nominations for two separate albums, a first in the history of World Music. These two nominations brought their career total to 19 Grammy Award nominations. One of these albums, Shaka Zulu Revisited, won Best World Music Album. This was the group’s fifth Grammy Award win, the most for any World Music group. Ladysmith Black Mambazo has performed for millions of people, singing a message of peace, love and harmony. With their 2024 release, Soothe My Soul…Songs From Our South African Church, the group puts their own spin on gospel music.

Thursday, August 8, 2024 $40 Advance | $43 Day of Show Doors 7pm | Show 8pm One of the most multi-faceted minds in roots music, Alison Brown is a GRAMMY-winning musician, GRAMMY-nominated producer, former investment banker (with an AB from Harvard and an MBA from UCLA), and co-founder of The Compass Records Group which is celebrating its 30th anniversary in 2023. On her new release, aptly titled On Banjo, Alison continues her musical explorations on a set of original compositions that explore the range of the banjo. The album features an eclectic cast of collaborators including Steve Martin, Kronos Quartet, Sharon Isbin, Anat Cohen, Sierra Hull, Stuart Duncan and members of the Alison Brown Quintet. Alison is the recipient of the USA Artists Fellowship in Music and the Distinguished Achievement Award from the International Bluegrass Music Association. In 2019, she was inducted into the American Banjo Museum Hall of Fame. Alison serves on the Board of Governors of the Recording Academy and as co-chair of the Steve Martin Banjo Prize.

Saturday, August 10, 2024 $33 Advance | $38 Day of Show Doors 7pm | Show 8pm As a child I can remember locking myself in my room with a big old set of headphones and listening to the Band's Music From Big Pink album over and over again,” said Reid Genauer, the lead singer and founder of the New York based quintet Assembly of Dust. “Besides loving the hell out of the music, I was intrigued with the production value in the recordings. As I listened I felt almost like I was there in the room with the Band at a moment of perfection. That intimate listening experience drew me in and is what inspired me to be a musician.” Drawing on that influence and countless others, over the last ten years Assembly of Dust has crafted a unique sound that recalls the likes of the Band, Traffic and Neil Young. They have taken that early 70's Americana swagger, put their own funky spin on it, and earned comparisons to the next generation of Americana heroes including Ryan Adams, Mumford and Sons and Wilco. Hooky melodies, poetic lyrics, and a profound depth of musicianship promptedUSA Today to say Assembly of […]

Friday, August 16, 2024 Doors 7pm | Show 8pm The Honey Island Swamp Band are a thrilling, eclectic band that defies genre conventions, renders song structures elastic, and wholeheartedly stresses that the song reigns supreme. Since they formed in 2005 in San Francisco after their displacement from New Orleans via Katrina — and subsequently relocated back home — the band has evolved to embody contemporary roots music. If you’re wondering where the numerous streams of American sounds coalesce and commingle in the modern scene, look no further. And the fivesome — bandleader and multi-instrumentalist Aaron Wilkinson, guitarist and vocalist Lee Yankee, bassist Sam Price, keyboardist Chris Spies, and drummer and vocalist Garland Paul — is about to release their most satisfying, consolidative album to date: Custom Deluxe, out June 23 on Color Red Music.

Thursday, August 22, 2024 Doors 7pm | Show 8pm Dobro master and 14-time Grammy winner Jerry Douglas is a bandleader, producer, session musician, instructor, and a very funny guy! He’s produced over a hundred albums and he’s featured on over 1,600 studio albums. He’s a member of Alison Kraus & Union Station, co-bandleader for Transatlantic Sessions in the United Kingdom, founder for the Grammy winner bluegrass super-group The Earls of Leicester, and he leads The Jerry Douglas Band.

Thursday, August 29, 2024 Doors 7pm | Show 8pm Dub Apocalypse is an instrumental dub reggae band from Boston, MA. Band members are Tommy Benedetti-drums,Van Martin-guitar,Johnny Trama-guitar,Aaron Bellamy-bass,and Timo Shanko-sax/bass. The band came together in 2007, led by drummer Tommy Benedetti and guitarist, Johnny Trama.Tommy Benedetti is one of the founding members of American Reggae Pioneers,John Brown's Body. He brings a wealth of experience from the reggae/dub scene to the table,having recorded albums for the legendary Shanachie Label, John Zorn's Tzadik Label (mixed by Bill Laswell),and is currently with John Brown's Body on Easy Star Records. This history is combined with almost 2 decades of International touring,as well as backing some of the giants of Jamaican music, including The Meditations and Justin Hinds.