Levitt AMP Whitesburg Music Series 2024

Join us every Thursday from May 30-July 26 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.

Rob Ickes and Trey Hensley

2 time Grammy winner and 15 time IBMA Dobro Player of the Year Rob Ickes and 2023 IBMA Guitar Player of the Year Trey Hensley. The GRAMMY® nominated duo cleverly and uniquely melds music of all kinds to create a signature blend of music that defies genre. Hear them and learn why No Depression observed “two of the finest musicians playing today.”

May 30

Southern Culture on the Skids

Since the 1980s their musical journey has taken them from North Carolina house parties to late night TV talk shows, from performing at the base of Mt. Fuji in Japan to rockin’ out for the inmates at North Carolina correctional facilities. In 2014 the band was honored by the Southern Folklife Collection at the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill with an exhibition featuring their music and cultural contributions.

June 6

Shemekia Copeland

The modern Queen of the Blues possesses one of the most instantly recognizable and deeply soulful roots music voices of our time. She is beloved worldwide for the fearlessness, honesty and humor of her music, delivering each song with unmatched passion. The winner of the 2021 Blues Music Award for B.B. King Entertainer Of The Year connects with her audience on an intensely personal level with resilient pleas for a kinder tomorrow.

June 13

Reverend Horton Heat

Seeing this rockabilly legend live is a transformative experience. Flames come off the guitars. Heat singes your skin. There’s nothing like the primal tribal rock & roll transfiguration where Reverend Horton Heat becomes a slicked-back 1950′s rock & roll shaman channeling Screamin’ Jay Hawkins through Buddy Holly living through the Gospel of Rock and Roll.

June 20

Cowan Creek Mountain Music School

Multiple Grammy and Americana Music nominee Hubby Jenkins joins Carla Gover, John Harrod, Don Rogers, Carl Jones and many more of the country’s finest traditional and mountain musicians in the annual faculty concert from the Cowan Creek Mountain Music School.

June 27

Jim Lauderdale & the Game Changers

At any given time, you’re likely to find Jim Lauderdale making music. “It’s a constant challenge to try to keep making better and better records, write better and better songs. I still always feel like I’m a developing artist,” he says. This may be a surprising sentiment from a man who’s won two Grammys, released 34 full-length albums, and taken home the Americana Music Association’s coveted Wagonmaster Award. At James Wiley Craft Memorial Park.

July 4

Phillip-Michael Scales

Phillip-Michael was born in Michigan, forged in Chicago, and now lives in Nashville, TN. He grew up with B.B. King calling him “nephew” and calls his music “Dive Bar Soul,” a blend of Indie Rock storytelling and the passion of the blues. In February of 2022, he caught the attention of Ellen Degeneres who featured him on her show.

July 11

Bandits on the Run

The Brooklyn based outfit has received accolades from NPR Music’s All Songs Considered, American Songwriter, NPR Weekend Edition, and the Johnny Mercer Songwriters Project. They composed music for the Netflix children’s animated series “Storybots”, scoring the newest Peter Hedges movie “The Same Storm”, and have appeared at the Cambridge Folk Festival, Floydfest, Milwaukee Summerfest, Americanafest, and the Singapore Grand Prix.

July 18

Kyshona

Angelic harmonies in songs of redemption and perserverance define a Kyshona performance.  Over the last few years she’s released a collection of recordings and videos in collaboration with Centennial Park Conservancy. A song written with ZG Smith called “Nighttime Animal” was named to American Songwriter’s Top 25 Songs of 2022. She is featured in a 2023 PBS television show called “Ear to the Common Ground”.

July 25

Kelsey Waldon

Across four acclaimed full-length albums full of both “heavy twang and spitfire pedal steel” and “coffeehouse confessionals,” she’s brought listeners into her world and shared her own experiences and perspectives. Featured in this year’s American Currents exhibit at the Country Music Hall Of Fame in Nashville.

July 26

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 38 Levitt AMP sites bringing free live music from Hawaii and Alaska to Maine and Florida.

Project Update

560

Average attendance in 2023

92.2%

Loved the lineup

87.8%

Had a strong sense of belonging

2023 was a successful year for Levitt! Our crowds averaged 560 per show, with a few nights exceeding 1,000. We opened the season with regional favorite, Laid Back Country Picker. The season ended with back-to-back shows during the Growing Home Revival and the flood anniversary with Senora May and Sundy Best. We have a solid pledge from the Levitt Amp Foundation for funding for the next eight years, and we hope to grow and make this event more embedded in our community during these next years

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 2024, the national Levitt network of music venues and concert sites is presenting 650+ free concerts in 45 towns and cities, with audiences over 750,000. 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 Apr 9, 2020