MACCMonday – Hall of Fame jam

The 2018 Musicians Against Childhood Cancer (MACC) benefits St Jude Children’s Research Hospital. The multi-day musical benefit will take place at Hoover Y Park in Columbus, OH, July 18-21. The event has raised over one million dollars to help fight childhood cancer. For more information or to donate, visit www.musiciansagainstchildhoodcancer.com.

All-star events have become a staple of the MACC in Columbus, OH over the years. For the past several weeks, we have profiled some of these events, including tributes to The Trio, Bluegrass Cardinals, Boys From Indiana, and Tony Rice.

One of the premiere events at this year’s MACC is an all-star jam featuring some true legends of bluegrass music! Hall of Famers, Doyle Lawson and Bobby Hicks will be joined by modern bluegrass masters, Russell Moore, Dudley Connell, Sammy Shelor, and Marshall Wilburn. All of these artists have made their mark on bluegrass music over the past several decades, so to see them on the same stage together for the first time, will truly be a must-see even for bluegrass fans everywhere.

Doyle Lawson has led Quicksilver, one of bluegrass’ premiere bands, for nearly forty years, after an historic career featuring stints with Jimmy Martin, J.D. Crowe, and The Country Gentlemen. In the 1980s, he and Hall of Fame fiddler, Bobby Hicks (Bill Monroe, Ricky Skaggs, and more) were both members of The Bluegrass Album Band, who helped usher in a new appreciation for the classic sounds of bluegrass music. Russell Moore was a member of Quicksilver during the 1980s, and has been the front man for Russell Moore & IIIrd Tyme Out, one of bluegrass’ top acts, for over twenty-five years. Dudley Connell and Marshall Wilburn were both premiere members of the the award-winning Johnson Mountain Boys during the 1980s and early 1990s, in addition to both being members of the all-star traditional bluegrass band, Longview. Sine then, Dudley Connell’s charisma as a guitarist and vocalist has helped lead the music of the Seldom Scene into the new millennium, and Marshall Wilburn has maintained his status of one of bluegrass’ premiere bassists. During the 1980s, Sammy Shelor was a major part of one of the era’s groundbreaking modern bluegrass band’s, The Virginia Squires, before driving the banjo for the Lonesome River Band since the early-nineties.

Promoter, Darrel Adkins actually had this exact all-star jam scheduled for a performance at the historic Frontier Ranch, before the park was shut down mid-festival, and the festival was moved to Hoover Y Park. Apparently, this all-star jam was able to only rehearse, before the performance was canceled. All of these years later, longtime bluegrass fans will finally be able to see this performance that nearly never happened.

Combined, these Hall of Famers and future Hall of Famers bring over two hundred years of experience to the MACC stage this Thursday, July 19th at Hoover Y Park in Columbus. You won’t want to miss this!!

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About the Author

Daniel Mullins

Daniel Mullins is an IBMA award-winning journalist and broadcaster from southwestern Ohio, with an American Studies degree from Cedarville University. He hosts the Walls of Time: Bluegrass Podcast and his daily radio program, The Daniel Mullins Midday Music Spectacular, on the Real Roots Radio network. He also serves as the station’s music director, programming country, bluegrass, and Americana music.