“Banjo Player of the Year” Noam Pikelny will share stage with Stuart Duncan at The Ridgefield Playhouse this Wednesday!

 

Two of the most exciting musicians in roots music today will share the stage at The Ridgefield Playhouse on Wednesday, October 15, at 8 p.m.!

Noam Pikelny just won “Banjo Player of the Year” and “Album of the Year” (Noam Pikelny Plays Kenny Baker Plays Bill Monroe) at the 25th International Bluegrass Music Awards on Oct. 2. He has been building a reputation as a mega talented virtuosic young banjo player since his 2004 solo debut In The Maze. He is a founding member of Punch Brothers, the string ensemble led by Chris Thile, which The New Yorker describes as “wide-ranging and restlessly imaginative”. Noam will perform side-by-side with multi-instrumentalist Stuart Duncan, a gifted bluegrass roots artist. Duncan has become an artist that defies categorization and surpasses the limits of any specific genre. The consummate sideman, he has lent his particular taste and tone to countless artists and projects. Whether played in the clawhammer or three-finger style, the banjo provides a perfect complement to the fiddle, and the sound of the two together is irresistible.  Southwest Café (109 Danbury Rd., Ridgefield) will pour a complimentary margarita with dinner the night of this show when ticket is presented. This event is part of the Doyle Coffin Singer/Songwriter Series.  

According to John Lawless who writes in Bluegrass Today, “Fans and students of the banjo and fiddle know Stuart and Noam as among the very finest to have ever plied their trade, with all the attendant awards and critical acclaim that entails. This should be a must see event wherever they land with this tour.”               

Noam Pikelny won the inaugural Steve Martin Prize for Excellence in Banjo and Bluegrass and was praised by Martin as “a player of unlimited range and astonishing precision.” In 2012, Noam’s second album, Beat The Devil and Carry A Rail received a Grammy nomination for Best Bluegrass Album.

Whether trading dizzying instrumental licks with the likes of Béla Fleck and Jerry Douglas, or adding complementary fills for vocalists Alan Jackson and Barbra Streisand, Stuart Duncan has found a professional "home" both in the studio and on tour. From Robert Plant to Panic at the Disco, Stuart's playing and influence can be heard among many of today's top hit-makers. When not active in the studio or on tour with others, Stuart Duncan is performing with the Nashville Bluegrass Band, where he has been a contributing member since 1985.  The band has won two Grammy awards, multiple IBMA & SPBMA awards, and has toured globally.                                     

For tickets ($38), call or visit the box office at The Ridgefield Playhouse, (203) 438-5795, or order online at ridgefieldplayhouse.org. The Ridgefield Playhouse is a not-for-profit performing arts center located at 80 East Ridge, parallel to Main Street, Ridgefield, CT.