Great news for fans of Flatt Lonesome.
The fresh-faced sextet has planned a special online concert for January 28 that allows them to combine two of their passions, and have a big time doing it.
All the band members have become big backers of the annual Musicians Against Childhood Cancer festival, which raises money each year to benefit the St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital in Memphis, TN. The past three years has found Flatt Lonesome performing at the four day summer event, where artists donate their time to help festival promoters Darrel and Phyllis with their vision of seeing an end to the heartbreak of childhood cancer. The couple lost a daughter to the disease, and have dedicated much of their energy since to this cause.
So on the 28th, Flatt Lonesome will offer a special online event through Concert Window at 8:00 p.m. (EST), broadcast from Beans N’ Cream Coffeehouse in Cedarville, OH. Admission for online viewing is by donation, on a pay-what-you-want basis, with all proceeds donated to the MACC to benefit St Jude Children’s Research Hospital.
But to make it extra special, instead of a set of the band’s recorded material, they will be working up arrangements of some of their favorite country songs drawing on the output of icons like Merle Haggard, George Jones, Patty Loveless, Dwight Yoakam, Johnny Cash, and more. They are calling the show Country Covers, and if you’ve ever caught Flatt Lonesome live, you know that they have a special fondness for the Bakersfield sound, and a knack for covering it with a bluegrass edge.
Mandolinist Kelsi Harrigill shared how big an impact her first look at the work the hospital does had on her and the rest of the group.
“I don’t think any of us realized how important it was, and how big of an effect it had on the kids at St. Jude’s until we got the opportunity to go visit [St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital] with Darrel and Phyllis. That was a life-changing experience.”
Kelsi and the rest of her bandmates, twin siblings Charli and Buddy Robertson on fiddle and guitar, husband Paul Harrigill on banjo, and close friends Michael Stockton on reso-guitar and Dominic Illingsworth on bass, are looking forward to this opportunity to do something for the kids, and have a great excuse to sing some of the old style country music they love, bluegrass style.
To watch, simply visit Concert Window online on January 28 shortly before 8:00 p.m. (EST), make whatever donation your situation dictates, and sit back and enjoy the show!
