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Kip and Jerry’s Rocky Road Show to Play KASU Bluegrass Monday Concert

03/11/2016

JONESBORO — Kip and Jerry’s Rocky Road Show will perform a concert of bluegrass music Monday, March 28, at 7 p.m. at the Collins Theatre, 120 West Emerson Street, in downtown Paragould.  The concert is part of the Bluegrass Monday concert series presented by Arkansas State University’s public broadcasting service KASU 91.9 FM. 

KASU will literally “pass the hat” to collect money to pay the group.  The suggested donation is $5 per person. Seating at the concert is first-come, first-served.  Doors to the theatre will open at 6 p.m.

Based in Knoxville, Tenn., Kip and Jerry’s Rocky Road Show is a quartet of acoustic musicians who perform traditional bluegrass music.  The group tours nationwide, led by long-time bluegrass musicians Kipper Stitt and Jerry Butler.

Stitt plays banjo and sings in the group.  Along with Butler, he is a former member of the acclaimed bluegrass ensemble, Pine Mountain Railroad.  He also performed with country star Marty Raybon in the band American Bluegrass Express. 

Stitt won the Lester Flatt banjo competition, and is a two-time runner-up in the Florida State Banjo Competition.  He was twice nominated for the International Bluegrass Music Association’s (IBMA) Emerging Artist of the Year award.

Butler plays guitar and sings in the Rocky Road Show.  He is a past member of Lorraine Jordan’s band, Carolina Road, and is a former leader of the group, The Blu-J’s.  He was nominated for the Society for the Preservation of Bluegrass Music in America’s Male Vocalist of the Year award, and was also nominated for the IBMA Emerging Artist of the Year award.

Butler has spent over a decade entertaining audiences on cruise ships sailing in the Caribbean and to ports in Mexico.  He has also appeared on numerous television programs including the Public Broadcasting System’s (PBS) series “Song of the Mountains.”

More details about the band and videos of the group in concert can be found at www.jerrybutleronline.com.

In addition to the concert, Terry’s Café, 201 South Pruett Street in Paragould, opens on Bluegrass Monday nights to welcome bluegrass music fans.  The café serves a catfish buffet meal beginning at 4:30 p.m. on the evenings of Bluegrass Monday concerts.  Concessions are also available at the Collins Theatre.

Bluegrass Monday concerts are held on the fourth Monday night of each month.  These concerts are presented with support from Bibb Chiropractic, the Posey Peddler, Holiday Inn Express and Suites of Paragould, the Northeast Arkansas Bluegrass Association and KASU.

KASU, 91.9 FM, is the 100,000-watt public broadcasting service of Arkansas State University.  For more information, contact KASU program director Marty Scarbrough at mscarbro@astate.edu or (870) 972-2367.  Bluegrass Monday is also on Facebook (search “Bluegrass Monday.”)

Kip and Jerry

Kipper Stitt (left) and Jerry Butler