Hiram – The old-time string band The Dust Busters will play a free concert in Frohring Recital Hall, Hiram College on Wednesday, Jan. 19 at 7:30 p.m. The group includes Walker Shepherd (banjo, guitar, bantar, fiddle), Craig Judelman (fiddle, pump organ) and Eli Smith (guitar, banjo, manjo, bantar, harmonica, autoharp). Their music integrates a wide range of old-time songs, ballads, fiddle tunes and jug band blues infused with the freewheeling high energy that characterized early string bands such as The Skillet Lickers. They are inspired by the fusion of Scots-Irish and African music that took place in Appalachia, the Western states and the Deep South from earliest colonial times through the Second World War. Carrying this music forward with authenticity and creativity, the Dust Busters make it thoroughly contemporary, meaningful, and fun.
Band members met while playing in a larger group with folk legends John Cohen of the New Lost City Ramblers and Peter Stampfel of the Holy Modal Rounders. The Dust Busters are presently based in Brooklyn, NY where they have played at venues such as Club Passim, the Jalopy Theater, The Brooklyn Folk Festival and Woodsongs Old Time Radio Hour. Their website is www.DustBustersMusic.com.
The concert is sponsored by the Hiram College Convocation program, Special Events, and the Music Department. Frohring Recital Hall is at 11746 Dean Street, Hiram. For further information, call 330-569-5294.
