Levitt AMP Whitesburg Music Series 2025

Join us Thursdays (and one Friday) from May 29-July 31 for ten family friendly, FREE concerts at the Mountain Heritage Stage in beautiful downtown Whitesburg. The Whitesburg Farmers Market opens at 4:30, opening acts hit the stage at 6:30, and headliners on at 7:30pm.

Brass Queens

Brass Queens is a female-led, New York-based brass band that has been dominating the brass band scene since 2019. The band tours regularly across the country and internationally. Appearances on festival stages include the Ottawa Jazz Festival, Northlands Music Festival, MusikFest, Duck Jazz Festival, and multiple appearances at the Exit Zero Jazz Festival. Brass Queens have played major events like The Met Gala and David Byrne’s “Amazing Humans Doing Amazing Things!” Variety Show, and Good Morning America! The 2023 winners of We Love NYC’s Rider’s Choice Award, after the people of New York voted the Queens as their favorite of the MTA’s Music Under New York’s roster of subway performers.

May 29

Terrance Simien & the Zydeco Travellers

For over 40 years, two-time GRAMMY award winning, 8th generation Louisiana Creole, Terrance Simien has been shattering the myths and often misinformation, about what his traditional Zydeco roots music is – and is not. Simien has become one of the most respected and accomplished artists in American roots music today. The music has been placed in multiple major studio theatre release films, including a Disney animated film, TV shows and radio commercials. They’ve been cultural ambassadors for their country since the mid 1980’s as part of the U.S,. State Department ongoing cultural diplomacy tours.

May 30

John R. Miller

West Virginia native John R. Miller is a true hyphenate artist: singer-songwriter-picker. Every song on his thrilling debut solo album, Depreciated, is lush with intricate wordplay and haunting imagery, as well as being backed by a band that is on fire. One of his biggest long-time fans, Tyler Childers, says he’s “a well-travelled wordsmith mapping out the world he’s seen, three chords at a time.” Miller is somehow able to transport us to a shadowy honkytonk and get existential all in the same line with his tightly written compositions. Miller’s own guitar-playing is on fine display along with vocals that evoke the white-waters of the Potomac River rumbling below the high ridges of his native Shenandoah Valley.

June 5

Carolyn Wonderland

Carolyn Wonderland, with her dynamic guitar playing, formidable songwriting, and pure Texas vocals, has more than earned her reputation. Wonderland plays original, bluesified, cosmic soul music, mixed with heavy doses of Tex-Mex and riff-fueled rock ‘n’ roll. She is the only woman to hold the lead guitar spot in the long history of John Mayall’s Bluesbreakers, following the likes of Eric Clapton, Mick Taylor and Peter Green. On the road her entire career, she’s played with icons from Townes Van Zandt to Levon Helm, from Buddy Guy to Hubert Sumlin, from Bob Dylan to
John Mayall, all while writing her own story. Currently nominated for a Blues Music Award.

June 12

Kiran Ahluwalia

Two-time JUNO (Canadian Grammy) winner Kiran Ahluwalia’s open-hearted vocals have established her as one of global music’s most compelling cross-pollinators. Her six-piece band is led by ace guitarist Rez Abbasi whose accolades include the Guggenheim Fellowship and frequent appearances on the Top Ten Guitarists of Downbeat’s International Critics Poll. Kiran and Rez are a real-life couple, one born in India, the other in Pakistan. Having grown up in the Diaspora they crossed ethnic and religious lines between their two warring motherlands to forge a musical and life partnership. Together they craft songs that are equal parts reflective and groovy and bring together the disparate traditions of Indian music, West African Blues and Jazz.

June 19

Sunny War

Spin Magazine said Sunny War’s new album contains “… some of the most emotional, thought-provoking music you’ll ever hear.” Channeling the guitar styles of Elizabeth Cotten, Etta Baker and Robert Johnson, Sunny War writes and sings songs about modern life described as roots music with a punk attitude. Her playing is dynamic and effortless. One of the most critically acclaimed new voices in roots music combined with some of the finest players in traditional mountain music.

June 26

Windborne

“The most exciting vocal group in a generation,” Windborne’s captivating show draws on the singers’ deep roots in traditions of vocal harmony. Known for the innovation of their arrangements, their harmonies are bold and anything but predictable. With a 20-year background studying polyphonic music around the world, Lauren Breunig, Jeremy Carter-Gordon, Lynn Rowan, and Will Rowan share a vibrant energy onstage with a blending of voices that can only come from decades of friendship alongside dedicated practice. The ensemble shifts effortlessly between drastically different styles of music, drawing their audience along on a journey that spans continents and centuries, illuminating and expanding on the profound power and variation of the human voice.

July 10

Buffalo Wabs & the Price Hill Hustle

It’s hard to stay still around these boys. They’ve got that toe-tapping, knee-slapping, boot-stomping kind of sound. Part rowdy honkytonk, part old-time pioneers, they make sound that sticks with your soul and leaves you singing barefoot into the star sky. These guys lean into the rhythms of the Ohio River Valley and look to the songs in the muddy water and the tradition it carries. To get “hustled” is to get the full-body musical experience—that head-boppin’,
hip-swaying, soul-singing with the stranger next to you. It’s the kind of music that encapsulates you into a community of sound, one that becomes familiar once you hear it, like maybe, you’ve been listening to them forever.

July 17

Chuck Prophet & his Cumbia Shoes

When a stage four lymphoma diagnosis forced him off the road, Chuck Prophet didn’t know if he’d live long enough to see the end of the year. “I was going through a tunnel,” he recalls. “Music was my savior.” That much is plain to hear on Wake The Dead, Prophet’s extraordinary new album. Recorded with band of brothers ¿Qiensave? the collection explores the world of Cumbia music, which consumed and comforted Prophet during his illness and subsequent recovery. Captured live in the studio, Wake The Dead resumes Prophet’s streak of more than a dozen critically acclaimed solo albums stretching all the way back to 1990, when the California native first shifted focus from pioneering neo-psych band Green on Red to working under his own name. Since then, Prophet—who’s now in full remission—has earned raves everywhere from Rolling Stone to NPR, landed songs in a slew of films and television shows, and seen his work covered by Bruce Springsteen, Solomon Burke, and Heart, among others.

July 24

Corduroy Brown

Corduroy Brown is a feel good Appalachian rock performer from Huntington, West Virginia. The Corduroy sound has been described as: “A sound that makes you feel like everything is going to be ok.” The on stage energy and connections to the crowd is what makes this band special. After being revived from life support during Covid, his perspective flipped, and now lyrics of self worth and gratitude pour from every song. This 3 piece band uses feel good sounds from the 90s and 2000’s blended with its own Appalachian flavor. Catchy, singalong hooks, high energy, and good vibes all around. “You always leave feelin’ a little better than before when you see a Corduroy show.” 2023 winner of Best Album at Appalachian Music and Arts Awards.

July 31

Levitt AMP Whitesburg Music Series

In 2017, we became one of 15 communities across America chosen to host the Levitt AMP Music Series. This concert series offers ten weeks of free live music in downtown Whitesburg which have helped reenergize the area. On these music series nights, a diverse lineup brings fresh sounds to Whitesburg, and our local growers bring fresh produce that feeds our community! Local food abounds as Levitt attendees shop at our Thursday City of Whitesburg Farmers Market and the local food trucks for supper. Cowan also provides free meals during Levitt AMP concerts for both seniors and, through USDA’s Summer Feeding Service Program, anyone under the age of 18. Today we are one of 31 Levitt AMP sites bringing free live music from Hawaii and Alaska to Maine and Florida.

Project Update

758

Average attendance in 2024

92%

Loved the lineup

88%

Had a strong sense of belonging

2024 was a successful year for Levitt! Our crowds averaged 758 per show, with a few nights exceeding 1,000. We have a solid pledge from the Levitt Amp Foundation for funding for the next six years, and we plan to bring a wide range of high quality music to downtown Whitesburg while we can!

Levitt AMP Whitesburg Music Series History

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The Levitt AMP Whitesburg Music Series is supported in part by the Mortimer & Mimi Levitt Foundation, which partners with changemakers and nonprofits across the country to activate underused outdoor spaces through the power of free, live music—bringing people together, fostering belonging, and invigorating community life. Presenting high-caliber talent and a broad array of music genres and cultural programming, Levitt concerts are welcoming and inclusive destinations where people of all ages and backgrounds come together.

In 2025, the Levitt Foundation is supporting 650+ free concerts in 50+ towns and cities with a total audience of nearly 1 million people. In addition to supporting free concerts, the Levitt Foundation is dedicated to advancing equitable music ecosystems through research and partnerships. www.levitt.org

Levitt AMP Whitesburg Music Series

by steveApr 18, 2025