Zoë/Rounder recording artist King Wilkie will hit the road this May for a string of Spring and Summer tour dates that will include stops in New York, Boston, and Chicago. Tour dates are listed below with more to come.
King Wilkie will release LOW COUNTRY SUITE June 26. LOW COUNTRY SUITE features eleven original songs produced by Jim Scott (Tom Petty, Dixie Chicks, and Red Hot Chili Peppers).
King Wilkie formed in 2003, and now includes Reid Burgess (Vocals, Mandolin, Ukulele, Organ, Piano, Banjo, Toy Piano, Marxophone), Jake Hopping (Upright Bass, Percussion), John McDonald (Vocals, Acoustic Guitar, Harmonica), Ted Pitney (Acoustic Guitar, Lap Steel Guitar, National Steel Guitar, Electric Guitar), Nick Reeb (Violin, Viola, Accordion, Piano, Kazoo), and Abe Spear (Banjo, Pedal Steel). The band started a journey that took them from a suburban upbringing with a pop
MTV soundtrack to an all-consuming obsession with bluegrass. Yet, even as they were named 2004’s Emerging Artist of the Year by the International Bluegrass Music Association, their sound was extending outward in directions that could no longer be contained under the bluegrass banner.
LOW COUNTRY SUITE finds King Wilkie deftly tapping into rock’s blue-highways heritage, drawing on the pioneering spirit of The Byrds circa Sweetheart of the Rodeo, Gram Parsons’ solo LPs, and the Rolling Stones in their "Country Honk" mode. Yet the album’s gentler songs are equally informed by the sixties folk of Nico, Nick Drake, and Leonard Cohen, as by Bill Monroe, the Flying Burrito Brothers, or the Byrds. While LOW COUNTRY SUITE pulls from a broad range of musical influences, the resulting blend is uniquely King Wilkie. "King Wilkie create their own genre of music – a beautiful, true and honest sound," says Jim Scott
Tour Dates
5/22/2007 Mo Pitkins New York, NY
5/23/2007 Iron Horse Northampton, MA
5/24/2007 Lizard Lounge Cambridge, MA
6/6/2007 Grey Eagle Asheville, NC
6/7/2007 Evening Muse Charlotte, NC
6/8/2007 The Handlebar Greenville, SC
6/16/2007 Mayville Bluegrass Festival Mayville, NY
6/21/2007 Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden Richmond, VA
6/23/2007 Floyd Country Store Floyd, VA
8/10/2007 Old Town School of Folk Music Chicago, IL
8/11/2007 Patriot Park Pigeon Forge, TN
9/16/2007 Birchmere Alexandria, VA
9/22/2007 Longwood Gardens Kennett Square, PA