Muncie Three Trails Music Series performing artist

The 2023 Muncie Three Trails Music Series Artists

The 2023 lineup of performing artists for the Muncie Three Trails Music Series has been announced! We are honored, pleased and humbled to be presenting these fine artists and groups for your enjoyment. Please feel free to explore their music and we look forward to seeing you at five great concerts this year!

TOMMY CASTRO AND THE PAINKILLERS

Saturday, July 29th, 2023 7pm at Canan Commons

with special guest opener Lovesick Moan

Presented by the Community Foundation of Muncie & Delaware County

Born in San Jose, California in 1955, Tommy Castro first picked up a guitar at age 10. Castro formed the first Tommy Castro Band in 1991, releasing his debut album in 1996 on the Blind Pig label. During the 1990s and into the 2000s, Castro recorded a series of critically acclaimed albums for various labels, then hooked up with Alligator Records in 2009, releasing Hard Believer to massive acclaim. In 2022, hot on the heels of his latest release, "A Bluesman Comes to Town," Castro and his band snagged Blues Music Awards for Album of the Year, Band of the Year, and, for the third time, the coveted B.B. King Entertainer Of The Year (the very highest award a blues performer can receive).

PO’ RAMBLIN’ BOYS

Saturday, August 12th, 2023 7pm at Canan Commons

with special guest opener Bashville Boys

Formed in the Smoky Mountains, The Po’ Ramblin’ Boys are at once exactly what you would expect and not at all what you would expect from a tattooed East Tennessee Bluegrass outfit. No strangers to hard work, the boys are as much at home riding in their restored Eagle tour bus as they are crawling underneath to fix it when it needs maintenance. But they take pride in being ambassadors of their genre, and the group has brought their music from rural bluegrass festival stages to the rock clubs of Europe, and even the Grammy Red Carpet, with stunning results. “I think to a certain extent everyone is just craving music that they can feel, and any music that feels real will reach any audience” says CJ Lewandowski, the groups founder. Perhaps this mindset is why the group earned the title of Emerging Artist of the Year at the 2018 IBMA Awards.

MICHAEL CLEVELAND & FLAMEKEEPER

Friday, August 25th, 2023 7pm at Canan Commons

with special guest opener Punkin’ Holler Boys

Presented by Ball State University

The tension between tradition and innovation is at the core of bluegrass music, and the fiddle playing of Michael Cleveland exemplifies this musical tug of war. As a boy, Cleveland heard a local fiddler play “Orange Blossom Special,” which sparked a lifelong obsession with the tune that mimics the sound of a train. Cleveland’s improvisational versions push the piece’s descriptive tones and percussive bowing to a new level. With an encyclopedic memory for melodies, and an uncanny intuition for improvisation, Cleveland’s music is both rooted in tradition and fueled by his melodic imagination.

DELVON LAMARR ORGAN TRIO

Saturday, September 9th, 2023 7pm at Canan Commons

with special guest opener Ball State Jazz Ensemble

Presented by Defur Voran

Soul-jazz groove-machine the Delvon Lamarr Organ Trio (DLO3) never would have happened without years and years of crummy gigs and Delvon’s staunchly supportive wife, Amy Novo. The story goes that Hammond B3 organist Delvon would regularly lug his 400-pound instrument from venue to venue barely breaking even to play other people’s music, and Amy just got tired of it. She fiercely believed in Delvon’s talents, and, eventually, she made an offer he couldn’t refuse: If Delvon picked the musicians, she would take care of all the business surrounding it.