Summer Sunset Series kicks off Sunday

Published 3:32 pm Friday, May 31, 2024

The annual Summer Sunset Series returns this month to the Grove stage on the campus of the University of Mississippi.

Summer Sunset Series is a community event made possible through a collaboration of Visit Oxford, Yoknapatawpha Arts Council, Center for the Study of Southern Culture, Gertrude C. Ford Center for Performing Arts, the University of Mississippi Museum and Oxford-Lafayette Chamber of Commerce.

Each Sunday night in June, starting at 6 p.m., locals and visitors alike can bring a blanket or lawn chair and set up their own picnic to listen to live music.

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The series will kick off on Sunday and music will be sponsored by the Yoknapatawpha Arts Council. The event will include the YAC kickoff party and will feature music by Alice Hasen & Josh Threlkeld Trio.

Hasen and Threlkeld combine decades of experience and are as comfortable playing Irish jigs as they are down-home grooves. The group transports their audience to vibrant and unexpected soundscapes where no one performance ever resembles the next.

In addition to the concert, the launch of the Summer Sunset Series will include hot dogs provided by Farm Bureau, a pop-up art show by the Oxford Artist Guild and balloons by Steve Thomas.

On June 9, the series will feature Sir Rod and the Blues Doctors sponsored by the Oxford-Lafayette County Chamber of Commerce. Sir Rod & the Blues Doctors offers a powerful mix of down-home blues, old-school soul and uptown funk. Get ready to dance as this group performs classics like, “Shake, Rattle and Roll,” “Mustang Sally,” and “I Feel Good” as well as original music.

On June 16, the Gertrude C. Ford Center for the Performing Arts will sponsor the Yalobushwhackers performance. Known locally as the Thacker Mountain Radio house band, the Yalobushwackers features frontman Paul Tate, bassist Slade Lewis, pianist Mark Yacovone and drummer Ricky Burkhead.

The University of Mississippi Museum is the sponsor of the June 23 concert featuring Honeyboy & Boots. This guitar and cello duo blends the rich notes of cello with acoustic guitar creating a sound that embodies Americana, folk, alt-country and blues with harmonies and a hint of classical notes.

The final performance of the series will feature Terry “Harmonica” Bean sponsored by the University’s Center for the Study of Southern Culture. Bean was born and raised in nearby Pontotoc where his name is included in a Mississippi Blues Trail marker for the Pontotoc County Blues. Bean created a one-man guitar-and-harmonica act in the 1990s before traveling to festivals around the world to perform and record his first album, “Here I Am Baby,” in 2001.

There will be no relocation due to weather.

For more information, go to visitoxfordms.com.