Spontaneous Combustion: A Musical Match is a unique and free concert experience, where two bluegrass bands will be tasked with performing songs based on themes randomly selected by spinning the big Wheel of Musical Misfortune.
DrJambo and Chapman Cultural Center will present Spontaneous Combustion: A Musical Match Wednesday, July 23, at 7 p.m. in the Center’s theater.
“This will be definitely be a new musical experience for Spartanburg,” Gilbert Nelson, a.k.a., DrJambo, says. Nelson is locally noted for teaching bluegrass music through jam sessions in Boiling Springs. “It will be entertaining, it might be a hoot, but it will be good bluegrass music with the added twist of asking musicians to perform random songs with a one-minute notice.”
On the Chapman Cultural Center stage will be a large roulette-like wheel. Each band will take several turns at spinning the Wheel of Musical Misfortune, and each time the wheel will stop on a subject matter such as “lost love,” “country life,” or “life in the fast lane.” Within one minute, the band will be tasked to play a song that touches on the topic it landed on. Renditions will be scored by a panel of judges, who are members of the house band, Gilbert Nelson and the Jam Town Grass.
“The trick is to see if the band rises to the challenge or if they develop a case of jamnesia,” DrJambo said. “They don’t have play original music or even entire songs. Hopefully, they will at least get the chorus and a verse or two. If they choke on the challenge, we’ll throw it to our audience to suggest songs on the topic.” “There will be twists and turns and surprises along the way but these musicians are a special breed, able to render classic bluegrass/country grooves on a moments notice.”
The bands on tap are Center Stage from Upstate South Carolina, and Bobby and Blue Ridge Tradition from Asheville. Center Stage members are bandleader, guitar and banjo player Tim Hutchins of Inman; dobro, guitar, and bass player Nathan Barnett of Campobello; and guitar player Allen Gosnell of Glassy Mountain. Center Stage is both Bluegrass and Americana, steeped in high-powered tradition. With a deep repertoire of songs from Lester and Earl to the Ol’ Possum himself and Eric Clapton, Center Stage was the winner of the SC regional Texaco Road Show Country Music Contest 2012.
Bobby and Blue Ridge Tradition is a five-piece bluegrass band that plays a unique mix of traditional and not-so-traditional bluegrass music. The band’s style is clearly not your standard run-of-the-mill bluegrass. The band has a knack for developing some great original songs that are built around the group’s own sound. If you’re into the classics, Bobby and Blue Ridge Tradition perform a heapin’ helping of them, from Bill Monroe to the Stanley Brothers to Flatt & Scruggs, in a style that takes the eternal classic bluegrass sound to the next level. The band is fearless when it comes to crossover material, arranging songs from the likes of Hank Williams, Bob Dylan, Chuck Berry, The Flying Burrito Brothers, The Newgrass Revival and many others into the well-defined framework of the band’s distinct styling, making each song sound like it was written just for them.
DrJambo is a self taught multi-instrumentalist, tried by fire at festivals and jam scenes across the decades, and he is the band leader for “The Jam Town Grass.” In addition, DrJambo is a full-time music teacher and creator of the Spontaneous Combustion game show. Along with his wife Leigh, they work as a team performing and teaching across the southeast. He lives in Boiling Springs, SC. For more information, please visit GilbertNelson.com.
In addition, the show will open at 6 p.m. with the Spartanburg Jazz Ensemble. It, too, will be a free concert.
For more information, please call (864) 542-ARTS.