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CONTACT: Brian Ososky
Director of Marketing & Public Relations
863-734-1210; bososky@boktower.org

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
April 16, 2013

Fresh, New, Original Music 'Under The Stars' at Bok Tower Gardens April 27

LAKE WALES, Fla.—The annual springtime Concert Under The Stars takes place at Bok Tower Gardens Saturday, April 27 at 7 p.m., featuring an evening of folk, bluegrass and jazz by two award-winning bands—The Duhks and the Alison Brown Quartet. Sponsored in part by WEDU, WUSF, Ledger Media Group, and 97 Country WPCV.

“This year’s Concert Under The Stars offers a unique combination of music that becomes something completely fresh, new and original,” said Brian Ososky, Director of Marketing and Public Relations at the Gardens. “It’s difficult to put this music into one specific category because there aren’t just simple genres of music anymore.”

“But no matter how we label the music, our guests are sure to enjoy it, especially with the unique, outdoor setting of our Great Lawn,” Ososky said. “There’s nothing quite like relaxing with friends and family on picnic blankets and camp chairs on a sprawling green hillside and enjoying three hours of live music with the 205-foot Bok Tower as your backdrop.”

The internationally recognized banjo virtuoso, Alison Brown, comes to the Gardens with three Grammy nominations for solo recordings and a Grammy award in 2001 for Best Country Instrumental Performance. A former member of Union Station (with Alison Krauss), Brown has been praised for her unique take on this traditionally Appalachian instrument.

But no one knows exactly what to call her music style, not even Brown. “It’s kind of a blue-jazz pop-grass,” she jokingly suggests.

Brown is a Harvard graduate, record label co-founder and owner, mother of two, and banjo virtuoso extraordinaire. She first came to national prominence when she was asked by Alison Krauss to join her band Union Station in 1989 not too long after her solo debut, the Grammy-nominated Simple Pleasures. Bluegrass music’s highest accolade for an instrumentalist soon followed—the International Bluegrass Music Association’s Banjo Player of the Year in 1991.

About Alison Brown, USA Today says “Banjo music is seldom thought of as ‘mellow’ or, dare we say ‘pretty,’ but Alison Brown makes it so in the jazz-classical-pop-folk-Latin mix of the Alison Brown Quartet.  As a true ground-breaker, she’s opening up whole new vistas for an instrument once solely associated with pickin’ n’ grinnin.”

Billboard Magazine writes, “Like James Taylor’s voice or B.B. King’s guitar, Alison Brown’s banjo is an instrument possessed of a unique sonic signature and an inescapable beauty....an artist who never ceases to delight."

Also performing at Concert Under The Stars is another Grammy-nominated band, The Duhks (pronounced ducks), who tout their music as “a folk-rock, bluegrass fusion of Afro-Cuban soul and jazz.” The Winnipeg, Manitoba-based Duhks have always gravitated towards traditional roots-based songs, but they've never stopped evolving due in large part to a collective musical worldview.

When founding member and banjo player Leonard Podolak put the group together more than a decade ago, accolades were quickly dropped on them. Albums were produced by heavyweight musicians like Bela Fleck and Tim O'Brien, and Nashville producer Jay Joyce (John Hiatt, Emmylou Harris). In 2007, they earned a Grammy nomination and a Juno Award.

“So much of our life experiences are defined by what's gone on with The Duhks and the journey it has taken us on.” Podolak said. “We're going to put on a really high-energy danceable show and it's going to be a fun time.”

About The Duhks, The Boston Globe says, "Canada's premier neo-tradsters romp from world-beat to blues, urban-pop to old-timey, with wild-eyed invention, haunting traditionalism, and spine-rattling groove. Who says the Frozen North can't sizzle, eh?”

“Hearing Alison Brown refer to her music the way she does, and knowing how The Duhks really mix things up,  it prompted us to do the same in our marketing and promotions,” Ososky said.  “We’re expanding our musical offerings to attract new visitors to the Gardens, who can come out for some great live music and have a fun time in a unique festival-like atmosphere.”

Ticket prices for the 2013 edition of “Concert Under The Stars” are $25 in advance ($22.50 members), and $10 children ages 5 to 12.  Day-of-show tickets are $30 adults and $12 children. For tickets or more information, visit boktowergardens.org.

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About Bok Tower Gardens:
Voted Florida’s best garden, Bok Tower Gardens is a National Historic Landmark located 10 miles from LEGOLAND Florida, 55 miles southwest of Orlando and 60 miles east of Tampa near Lake Wales in Central Florida’s rolling hills of citrus. Open every day of the year from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. The Visitor Center, Café and Gift Shop are open 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Admission is $12 for adults and $3 for ages 5-12. Members and children under 5 are admitted free. LEGOLAND ticket holders will receive free admission for children under 12. For more information, contact Bok Tower Gardens, 1151 Tower Boulevard, Lake Wales FL 33853; 863-676-1408 or visit www.BokTowerGardens.org.