Floyd Small Town Summer 2023

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Floyd Country Store

Lonesome River Band

Dates:

• June 8th - Music in the Park – Victoria Victoria featuring Charlie Hunter & DaShawn Hickman’s Sacred Steel featuring Charlie Hunter
• June 22nd - Music in the Park - Lenny Marcus & The Big Easy & The Revelers
• July 6th - Music and Movie in the Park - Jackson Cunningham & Nobody’s Business & Lonesome River Band (music) Minions: The Rise of Gru (movie)
• July 20th - Music in the Park – Beleza & Bio Ritmo (supported in part by the Virginia Commission for the Arts)
• August 3rd – Music & Movie in the Park– End of Summer Celebration: Shawn Spencer & Star City Swag & The Sol Roots Band (music) & Hotel Transylvania: Transformania (movie)
• August 17th – Music in the Park – Jonathan Scales Fourchestra & Hoppie Vaughan & The Ministers of Soul (music)
• August 31st – Music in the Park – Rachael Hester & The Tennessee Walkers & JP Harris (music)

All events begin at 6 PM. (*Music and movie times may vary)

All events are FREE and open to the public

Where: The Warren G Lineberry Park in Downtown Floyd, VA

The Town of Floyd is pleased to announce the sixth year of the “Floyd Small Town Summer” Event Series taking place in The Warren G Lineberry Park throughout the summer months starting on Thursday, June 8th and concluding on August 31st, 2023. The Town of Floyd offers this series of free events to provide a fun, family-friendly atmosphere in downtown Floyd, VA. The events take place on alternating Thursdays from mid-June to the end of August and feature music and movies with lots of additional activities provided to highlight the park and community organizations.

The series will be kicked off on Thursday, June 8, with an amazing co-bill featuring DaShawn Hickman, one of the foremost contemporary practitioners of Sacred Steel, a blues-gospel tradition dating back to the 1930’s, and Victoria Victoria, a North Carolina vocalist who leans into lusciously stacked harmonies and entrancing melodies. Both ensembles will be joined by Charlie Hunter, a guitarist and producer from Greensboro, North Carolina who is widely considered the authority on the seven and eight string guitar. Critics have touted his genius technique, but it's his profound artistic sensibility that propels his music. Hunter's signature style of writing and performing has secured his place as one of today's great guitarists.

The next event on Thursday, June 22 will feature a Louisiana-themed party with The Revelers who have been bringing their party around the world for nearly 10 years. Coming to us from Lafayette Louisiana’s Cajun Country, The Revelers play swamp pop, Zydeco, and old-school Louisiana dancehall music. Enjoy an opening set by Lenny Marcus & The Big Easy. Lenny Marcus from Roanoke, Virginia, worked for many years in New Orleans studying and performing with legends such as Ray Bryant, Ellis Marsalis, and Alvin Batiste. Lenny’s Big Easy trio will play music inspired by his time in New Orleans.

Floyd Small Town Summer continues on Thursday, July 6 with our local bluegrass heroes The Lonesome River Band. The Lonesome River Band continues its reputation as one of the most respected names in bluegrass music. Five-time IBMA Banjo Player of the Year, and winner of the Steve Martin Prize for Excellence in Banjo and Bluegrass, Sammy Shelor leads the group that is constantly breaking new ground in acoustic music. Getting the audience warmed up and out on the dance floor will be Southwest Virginia’s Jackson Cunningham & Nobody’s Business who play traditional first generation bluegrass, old time and classic era country. We will also enjoy a short set by Handmade Music School Students! Following the great music, we will have a Movie Night in the Park with Minions: The Rise of Gru. Snuggle up on a blanket with your family and enjoy this hilarious movie about Gru and his Minions featuring Steve Carell.

Thursday, July 20 we are excited to announce an evening in celebration of Hispanic Heritage in the Lineberry Park. Featuring Bio Ritmo, a durable and ambitious salsa collective based in Richmond, Virginia who combine Afro-Caribbean rhythms from son, bomba, plena, and samba with big band brass. This performance in funded in part by The Virginia Commission for the Arts. Enjoy an opening set by Charlottesville-based Beleza who are united by musical interests that include samba, funk, soul, blues, bossa nova, jazz and Spanish flamenco. We will also feature dancers from SalsaNoke from Roanoke, Virginia.

Thursday, August 3 will be our End of Summer Celebration featuring great music, another movie, and lots of fun activities for the kids in the park! The music will feature The Sol Roots Band who performs a mix of deep blues, funk, energetic rock, soul, and hypnotic rhythms. Enjoy an opening set by Shawn Spencer & Star City Swag a Roanoke-based jazz band who perform classic music from a by-gone era. Honoring the greats like Ella Fitzgerald, Billie Holiday, Frank Sinatra, and more. The evening continues with another Movie Night in the Park featuring Hotel Transylvania 4: Transformania featuring Andy Samburg and Selena Gomez.

Thursday, August 17, our series continues with the soulful Hoppie Vaughan & The Ministers of Soul. Hoppie Vaughan has been igniting and expanding the live music scene in Southwest, Virginia since 1996 with his impressive group, the Ministers of Soul. Enjoy an opening set by Jonathan Scales Fourchestra, a power trio of electric bass (E'Lon JD), drums (Maison Guidry), and steel pans (Jonathan Scales) combines elements of jazz, classical, and progressive rock, peppered with Latin rhythms and soulful outbursts of funk. 

Floyd Small Town Summer closes out the year with a honky-tonk party featuring the incredible JP Harris. Harris has been writing and performing country music for nearly a decade. His two previous albums garnered fans and critics at major outlets like Rolling Stone. JP was also referenced by Eagles frontman Don Henley in a 2015 interview a new artist making “thoughtful, authentic music.” Enjoy an opening set by Rachael Hester & The Tennessee Walkers who sings with a uniquely pure country voice while performing classic country and western swing. 

Floyd Mayor Will Griffin says "Town Council is very excited to welcome the community back to Floyd’s Small Town Summer. This is an event funded by the Town as a ‘Thank You’ to all that make our home such a fantastic place."

Floyd Small Town Summer will continue to invite community organizations to set up and provide fun activities for participants! If your organization would like to be part of this fun summer series please contact DLP Concerts through the Floyd Small Town Summer website or Facebook page or Dylan Locke directly at floyddylan1971@gmail.com.

The Town of Floyd’s Small Town Summer Event Series is free and open to the public. Gates will be open and access provided to the public starting at 6 PM on all Floyd Small Town Summer events. Movies will begin when the sun goes down and other times for music and other activities will be listed on the website floydsmalltownsummer.com