Bluegrass legend Bobby Osborne visits the Newman Center on May 8 for American Bluegrass Masters Tour.
For the final show of the season and the first time in the seven-year history of Newman Center Presents, a bluegrass show takes the stage at the Newman Center for the Performing Arts on May 8.
The American Bluegrass Masters Tour unites Grand Ole Opry legend Bobby Osborne with other renowned bluegrass singers and pickers, according to Stephen Seifert, Newman Center director.
The one-night-only show is billed as “bluegrass meets newgrass.” The concept joins fresh-spirited innovation in a concert that features traditional American bluegrass music.
“As bluegrass pioneer Bill Monroe said, ‘Bluegrass is blues and jazz, and it has a high lonesome sound. It’s plain music that tells a good story. It’s played from my heart to your heart, and it will touch you. Bluegrass is music that matters,” Seifert says.
Osborne is known primarily for his collaboration with his brother, Sonny Osborne. The duo ushered in the 1960s with the first modern-day bluegrass band, the Osborne Brothers. The band’s vocals and polished instrumental arrangements became the gold standard for future country harmony acts. Bobby became a member of the Grand Ole Opry in 1964 after performing on various radio shows around the country. In 1971, the Osbornes became the first bluegrass act to win the Country Music Association’s Vocal Group of the Year award.
The American Bluegrass Masters Tour will perform at 7:30 p.m. May 8 at DU’s Newman Center for the Performing Arts. A free “Behind the Curtain” lecture will be held at 6:30 p.m. with David Patton, a musician, writer, music promoter and volunteer with the Colorado Bluegrass Music Society. General admission tickets are $30. Parking is free. Tickets can be purchased through the Newman Center and www.ticketmaster.com. For more information, call 303-871-7720 or visit www.newmancenterpresents.com.