- This event has passed.
1927 Concert Series featuring Boy Named Banjo
June 23, 2023 @ 6:00 pm - 9:00 pm
The 1927 Concert Series is an intimate concert experience set in the “acoustically perfect” performance theater at the Birthplace of Country Music Museum. It’s more than a night of music, it’s a very personal event with some of the most renowned roots music artists performing today. Guests are asked to arrive promptly at 6:00 p.m. to enjoy heavy hors d’oeuvres and an open bar (ages 21+ with valid ID) before the show, food and drinks included with ticket. The concert begins at 7 p.m. Post-performance, guests will have the opportunity to mingle with the band after the show.
Members of the Birthplace of Country Music’s 1927 Society are given access to exclusive ticket pre-sales to the 1927 Society Concert Series before they go on sale to the public.
About Boy Named Banjo
In a time when the popular choice is to chase the double yellow line down the road to country radio, Boy Named Banjo thrives on its fringes. The Nashville-raised five-piece is a fusion of contemporary country, Americana and folk-rock stacked on a foundation of bluegrass.
“We’re trying to find our own niche within popular country music today,” says Sam McCullough (drums). “But not straight down the middle.”
The band, which has been together in some iteration since members were in high school, is comprised of Barton Davies (banjo), Ford Garrard (bass/standing bass), Sam McCullough (drums) Willard Logan (mandolin, acoustic/electric guitar) and William Reames (acoustic guitar/harmonica). William and Willard played in a middle school garage rock band together, but it wasn’t until William met Barton in high school English class that Boy Named Banjo started to take shape.
Barton had just started playing banjo when he heard William listening to bluegrass music. He suggested they jam together, which led to them asking Willard to join them. The guys started playing music on the streets of downtown Nashville, which is where the name “Boy Named Banjo” was created, outside of the famed Robert’s Western World. While playing, a man walked by and yelled to Barton “Play that banjo boy!” Later that night William came up with the name Boy Named Banjo, which has stuck ever since.
Not only did the band continue to steadily release music independently, releasing two albums and an EP, the band developed its one-of-a-kind live show over the years until it attracted Mercury Records Nashville’s attention in 2019. Boy Named Banjo had just launched their most extensive headlining tour to date when the pandemic commanded them to drive the 36 hours from Portland, Oregon, back to Nashville and put their lives on hold for the next 18 months. They became the first act that Universal Music Group Nashville signed via Zoom about two weeks later.
Boy Named Banjo released their debut EP, Circles, in summer of 2021. The collection includes seven tracks co-written by members of the band including the compassionate “Go Out Dancing,” which the band says takes on a much larger meaning post pandemic thinking “if it really was ending” what would we do? They used the time to write songs and hone in on their sound with writer/producer Oscar Charles (Carly Pearce, Charlie Worsham, Elvie Shane). With a catalogue of songs to choose from, and recent time spent in the studio, the guys are deciding what to run with next.
The band is currently out on the road playing some of country music’s largest festivals including Dierks Bentley’s Seven Peaks, Country Jam, and they recently made their CMA Fest debut playing at the Ascend Amphitheatre Nighttime Concert. They head out on the road this fall as direct support to multi-PLATINUM singer/songwriter, Kip Moore on his Fire on Wheels Tour.