KASU Blue Grass Monday to Feature Darrell Webb Band
05/12/2015
JONESBORO — The Darrell Webb Band will perform a concert of bluegrass music on Monday, May 18, at 7 p.m. at the Collins Theatre, 120 West Emerson Street, in downtown Paragould, Arkansas. The concert is part of the Bluegrass Monday concert series presented by KASU 91.9 FM. KASU will literally “pass the hat” to collect money to pay the group. The suggested donation is $5 per person.
Darrell Webb has spent 20 years as a professional bluegrass musician. He was exposed to bluegrass from an early age, as his father was a bluegrass musician. Webb began singing at age four and playing mandolin at age eight. By age 16, he had decided he wanted to pursue music as a career.
At age 19, Webb was hired to replace Dan Tyminski, who would later be the singing voice of George Clooney in the “O Brother Where Art Thou?” movie, and in the Lonesome River Band, one of the top bluegrass groups in the industry. After a stint in that group, Webb played for Bluegrass Hall-of-Fame banjo player J.D. Crowe in his band New South.
Webb was a founding member of the bluegrass band Wildfire, a group that featured former members of New South. Webb spent eight years as part of that band before becoming a member of Rhonda Vincent’s band, The Rage. He later toured with Michael Cleveland and Flamekeeper.
In addition to being a member of these bands, Webb was an in-demand, fill-in musician, performing on a temporary basis with Blue Highway, Larry Sparks, Mountain Heart, The Grascals, Dailey and Vincent, and other top-tier bluegrass groups. He also was a featured musician on two CDs by Dolly Parton.
In 2009, Webb founded his own ‘Darrell Webb Band’ to showcase his vocal and mandolin skills, as well as his high-energy approach of mixing traditional and contemporary bluegrass styles. The band has produced numerous CDs, the most recent titled, “Dream Big,” which features guest appearances by many of the artists with whom Webb has performed in the past.
In 2015, the band will perform throughout the United States at bluegrass festivals and venues, as well as travel to Canada and Norway for concerts. When not on the road, the band performs three to five days a week at the Old Smoky Distillery in Gatlinburg, Tennessee.
The band includes resophonic guitarist Andy Russ, Cody Hill on banjo, guitarist Jered Hensley and Becky Webb on bass.
Prior to the concert, Terry’s Café, 201 South Pruett Street in Paragould, serves a catfish buffet meal beginning at 4:30 p.m. on the evenings of Bluegrass Monday concerts. Concessions are also available at the Collins Theatre.
Bluegrass Monday concerts are typically held on the fourth Monday night of each month; however for the month of May, the concert is one week earlier because of the Memorial Day holiday.
These concerts are presented with support from Bibb Chiropractic, the Posey Peddler, Holiday Inn Express and Suites of Paragould, the Northeast Arkansas Bluegrass Association and KASU.
KASU, 91.9 FM, is the 100,000-watt public broadcasting service of Arkansas State University. For more information, contact KASU Program Director Marty Scarbrough at mscarbro@astate.edu or (870) 972-2367. Bluegrass Monday is also on Facebook (search “Bluegrass Monday”).
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