BRATTLEBORO — Next Stage Arts Project and Twilight Music present Nashville-based bluegrass and Americana quartet The Barefoot Movement at Hooker-Dunham Theater & Gallery on Saturday, June 20, at 7:30 p.m.
Described as heartfelt, energetic and down home, Telluride Bluegrass Festival award-winning The Barefoot Movement is “one of the most promising bands on the bluegrass scene,” according to CMT Edge. Their down-to-earth music ranges from poignant ballads to rip-roaring barn-burners.
In the five years since The Barefoot Movement started playing together, they have enjoyed almost non-stop touring, from crisscrossing the United States to a trip to Burkina Faso in Africa, where they were guests of the American Embassy. They have appeared in Country Weekly magazine, on CMT Edge, Music City Roots, and Woodsongs Old-Time Radio Hour, and have released three CDs.
The “Movement” can be traced back to the teen years of singer-songwriter and fiddler Noah Wall of Oxford, N.C. Just as she had begun penning her first compositions, she met mandolinist Tommy Norris during their senior year of high school. Convinced of their musical chemistry and driven by mutual ambition, they continued to build the band from the ground up throughout their college careers.
While enrolled in East Tennessee State's Bluegrass, Old-time and Country Music Program, Noah met fellow student and upright bassist Hasee Ciaccio. With the addition of guitarist and singer Alex Conerly, the lineup was complete with all the trademark elements of Barefoot sound - lush harmonies, dazzling instrumental work, and memorable melodies.