Performer:  Jonathan Byrd & The Pickup Cowboys

Concert Date: Friday, September 9, 2016

Time: 7:30 PM. Doors open at 7:00 PM. Arrive early to be sure of admission.

Venue: Great Aunt Stella Center, 926 Elizabeth Avenue, Charlotte, NC 28204

Cost: Free; donations appreciated.

Website: www.folksociety.org

Next March, the Charlotte Folk Society will reach a significant milestone – the 35th anniversary of its founding in 1982. The second concert in our 2016-2017 Gathering Series features Jonathan Byrd & The Pickup Cowboys.

Jonathan Byrd is a seventh generation North Carolinian, a preacher’s son, a Gulf War veteran, and a Kerrville New Folk award winner. A Jonathan Byrd show is musical theater, bringing together the Texas songwriting tradition with Southern storytelling and hot guitar picking. A stalwart of modern folk music, Byrd has released six solo albums with a surprising variety of musical directions, as well as recording collaborations with American world music band Dromedary, and fellow songwriters Diana Jones and Chris Kokesh.

“One of the top 50 songwriters of the last 50 years. ” — Rich Warren of WFMT in the Chicago Tribune

“Sly, subversive and able to say more in two words than most other people can say in a novel, Byrd is clearly one of the tent poles of contemporary folk music. He sounds like he’s straight from the back porch but he’s taken a long, hard look at life and knows how to bring it into focus. This . . . is going to set your ears on fire, even if you aren’t a folkie.” — Midwest Record

“This rootsy North Carolinian . . . displays John Prine’s gift for stark little songs that tell big, complex stories, Guy Clark’s lean melodicism, Lyle Lovett’s wry mischief, and Bill Morrissey’s knack for the revealing image.” — Scott Alarik, Boston Globe

“Jonathan Byrd doesn’t sing songs; he sings truth.” — Mare Wakefield, Performing Songwriter

“Jonathan touches your soul. His good heart, and common sense outlook to life, clearly comes through in his songs. He’ll have you both laughing and tearing up within the space of a few minutes. ” — Jeanne Murrin Wilkinson, No Depression

“Jonathan Byrd swings from the roots of American music . . . He jumps between gutbucket blues and tender ballads, empathetic work laments and sympathetic character studies . . . Byrd shares the often-missed, always poignant tales of the small people that make this world such a big place.” — Grayson Currin, The Independent

Monthly second-Friday Charlotte Folk Society Gatherings are family-friendly and free; donations are appreciated.   Refreshments, a song circle, jam sessions, songwriters’ circle, and an Appalachian dulcimer group follow the hour-long concert. Free parking is available in the 4^th St. Mecklenburg County parking deck, between Kings Dr. and McDowell St. Accessible entry.

Charlotte Folk Society Gatherings are made possible, in part, with funding from the Arts & Science Council. This concert is presented in partnership with Charlotte Community Radio.