Dollar Bank Three Rivers Arts Festival Announces Music Lineup

The Pittsburgh Cultural Trust proudly announces the 2011 Dollar Bank Three Rivers Arts Festival music schedule that will take place June 3-12, 2011. All headline concerts are presented on the Dollar Bank Stage at Point State Park in downtown Pittsburgh. The free live music series, a 52-year Pittsburgh tradition, is sponsored by Dollar Bank.

J. Kevin McMahon, president and CEO of The Pittsburgh Cultural Trust notes, "This year's Dollar Bank Three Rivers Arts Festival promises to have the most eclectic and dynamic mix of music to date. We're starting with the announcement of the headliners for the Dollar Bank Main Stage, but stay tuned for some more exciting news in the coming weeks. Our thanks to our lead sponsor Dollar Bank for making this diverse and entertaining lineup possible."

"Dollar Bank has a long history of providing community events in Point State Park, so we are very pleased to continue this tradition of free music at the Festival," said Robert P. Oeler, President and CEO, Dollar Bank. "The Festival's programming on the Dollar Bank Stage is a hallmark event of the summer season in downtown Pittsburgh, attracting hundreds of thousands of visitors annually to the city and Cultural District. We're proud to ensure the continuity of top-quality, affordable arts programming in our region."

All concerts at Dollar Bank Three Rivers Arts Festival are free and open to the public. Concerts begin at 7:30 p.m. in Point State Park with the exception of the Sunday performances which begin at 6:00 p.m. Additional Festival details will be announced in May, including information on the Artists Market, visual arts, family programming, performing arts and additional music programming. For information, visit 3riversartsfest.org or call 412-456-6666.

Blind Boys of Alabama - June 3rd
The Blind Boys of Alabama are recognized worldwide as living legends of gospel music. Celebrated by The Grammys and The National Endowment for the Arts with Lifetime Achievement Awards, inducted into the Gospel Music Hall of Fame, having sung for two U.S. presidents in the White House and winners of five Grammy® Awards, they have attained the highest levels of achievement in a career that spans over 70 years and shows no signs of diminishing.

Tom Tom Club - June 4th
Chris Frantz and Tina Weymouth established The Tom Tom Club exactly 30 years ago as a side project during their tenure with Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductees Talking Heads. The group celebrates their anniversary this year by playing shows around the world, reinforcing why their funky musical style has been a staple of the dance music world since the early 1980s.

James McMurtry with special guest Jonny Burke - June 6th
Texan singer-songwriter James McMurtry, son of acclaimed author Larry McMurtry (Lonesome Dove, Terms of Endearment), grew up on a steady diet of Johnny Cash and Roy Acuff records. McMurtry appears at this year's Three Rivers Arts Festival just months after reissuing two of his most popular albums, Childish Things and Live in Aught-Three. "James McMurtry is simply fearless," wrote Elmore magazine. "While many other singer-songwriters make veiled references to difficult subjects, McMurtry courageously lays it out there."

Jonny Burke is a man on the move. After travelling through every state in the Continental U.S. over the past two years, the young musician has launched his full-length debut Distance and Fortune. While the disc reflects his time on the road, these aren't your typical "drivin' and cryin'" road songs. This set of tunes, according to Burke, is about "not playing it safe and practical, but allowing your future to be decided by forces of distance and fortune."

The Baseball Project with special guest J. Roddy Walston & The Business- June 7th
Rock n' roll vets Scott McCaughey and Steve Wynn share an unhealthy love for music exceeded only by an even more unhealthy obsession for baseball. The compatriots blend their two passions with The Baseball Project -- Volume 1: Frozen Ropes and Dying Quails, an album of buzzing guitars and baseball back stories. Drummer Linda Pitmon and Peter Buck round out the squad, as they spin tales of ill-fated drinking binges ('The Yankee Flipper', 'The Death of Big Ed Delahanty'), folk heroes ('Fernando', 'Satchel Paige Said') and, on 'Gratitude (For Curt Flood)', the overlooked man who changed the game.

Piano slamming alt rockers J. Roddy Walston & The Business, led by the bandleader's barrelhouse piano stylings, shifts seamlessly through jump-up shout-a-longs ("Used to Did") to low slung, gritty travelin' blues ("Use Your Language"), to arena-worthy anthems ("I Don't Want to Hear It"). The band has built an audience the old fashioned way, through hard work and unrelenting live shows.

Tea Leaf Green - June 8th
San Francisco-based band Tea Leaf Green got their start in the relationship formed between guitarist Josh Clark and drummer Scott Rager, who played in a high-school band together in Arcadia, CA.Sharing some of the style and substance of musical contemporaries My Morning Jacket, Wolfmother, and the Raconteurs, Tea Leaf Green conjures the spirit of bands like '70s Bob Dylan, Tom Petty, and The Grateful Dead, taking classic sounds and giving them a present-day polish.

Formula412 - June 9th
Pittsburgh's own Formula412 returns to the Festival just two months after releasing their latest effort, Reality Show, and receiving the "Best Group" award at the 2011 Pittsburgh Hip Hop Awards. By adding live guitar, bass and drums to the traditional set-up of a DJ and an emcee, Formula412 pushes the limits of the genre and remains at the top of the Pittsburgh burgeoning hip-hop scene.

Brandi Carlile - June 10th
Named Rolling Stone's "10 Artists to Watch in 2005," Brandi Carlile has toured as a headliner and supported other artists including Ray LaMontagne, Jonny Lang, Hanson, Indigo Girls, The Fray, Chris Isaak, Tori Amos and Shawn Colvin. In 2010, she won Seattle's City of Music Breakthrough Award. As Carlile's fans well know, her concerts are near legendary in their perfect communion between performer and audience. Whether she is rocking out with her full band or standing quietly, tantalizingly close to the edge of the stage singing a capella, Carlile brings a riveting intensity to every performance.

Ricky Skaggs - June 11th
2011 marks the 52nd year since Ricky struck his first chords on a mandolin. This fourteen-time Grammy Award winner continues to do his part to lead the recent roots revival in music. With 12 consecutive Grammy-nominated classics behind him, all from his own Skaggs Family Records label, the diverse and masterful tones made by the gifted Skaggs come from a life dedicated to playing music that is both fed by the soul and felt by the heart.

Buckwheat Zydeco - June 12th
Legendary zydeco trailblazer Buckwheat Zydeco is celebrating 30 years together with a recently-released and Grammy Award-winning album entitled Lay Your Burden Down. Stanley "Buckwheat" Dural, Jr., bandleader and accordionist, returns to Three Rivers Arts Festival to perform songs from the new album and many of beloved Cajun classics.

 

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