SAXTONS RIVER — The Steel Wheels are an electrifying American band, taking the traditional, reinventing it, and making it new.
The group's debut show in Vermont, in Bellows Falls one year ago, was a standing-room-only affair, and the anticipation for their return on Sunday, Nov. 6, at Main Street Arts is already building.
The Steel Wheels are rooted in the territory between blues and bluegrass, old-time sing-alongs, and foot-stomping fiddle melodies. They are subtle innovators who respect the past but whistle their own tunes, layering in rich textures and decidedly modern energy to forge a new sound.
“It's exciting to be bringing Steel Wheels back to the area,” says Flying Under Radar's Charlie Hunter. “The band really loved playing here last November and insisted that we keep the price affordable so as many folks as possible can come to the show. Last year, they packed Boccelli's to the walls and earned several standing ovations.”
Their music is part of a vital new tradition in old-time music, explored by artists such as Gillian Welch, Little Sadie, the Avett Brothers, and Old Crow Medicine Show.
The four-piece Steel Wheels is based in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia, where multi-instrumentalist Jay Lapp and vocalist Trent Wagler were born and took inspiration from church hymns and folk music. The two are joined by upright bassist Brian Dickel and fiddler Eric Brubaker.
The show is presented in association with Vermont Festivals, LLC and WOOL 100.1 FM, with help from Popcorn Sutton Productions. The next show in the series will feature Peter Case on Friday, Nov. 18 at the Bellows Falls Opera House Lower Theater.
Doors open at 7 p.m.; the show begins at 7:30 p.m. Tickets are $12 in advance, with $20 front row “Angel” tickets available online.
Advance tickets are available at Village Square Booksellers and Fat Franks in Bellows Falls, in Chester at Misty Valley Books, in Brattleboro at Turn It Up!, and online.
For further information, call 802-463-3669 or visit Flying Under Radar's website.