Big Howdy Bluegrass Showcase Featuring: Bryan McDowell

The first Saturday of each month Big Howdy hosts a showcase featuring a special guest!

Special Guest:

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To understand who Bryan McDowell is, you won’t leave with the question answered. The only answer to this is in hearing his music… not just once, but many times, taking in his shapeshifting lyricism and deft navigation of both original and traditional territory with any of a long list of his collaborators and contemporaries.​​

But to begin to respond to the question in words, we can say that Bryan is an Appalachian musician. That is, his roots are in 9 years of work with first generation bluegrass fiddler Arvil Freeman, and his first connection was to the mountain culture of Western North Carolina and its acoustic traces. His influences are the refrains of Doc Watson, Norman Blake, and other classic folk pioneers, passed to him from his clawhammer banjo-playing father.

But his tastes in music couldn’t be contained in Appalachia and a quick ear landed him recurring work in Nashville with elite artists like Sierra Hull, Molly Tuttle, Section House, and stints with Claire Lynch and John McEuen. He contributed his surprising, sometimes-crunchy-sometimes-fluid style on stage and in studio alongside A-team players that included the McCourys, Bela Fleck, Alison Brown, Jerry Douglas, Jake Stargel, Missy Raines, Cory Walker, David Grier, Rob Ickes, Justin Moses, and Stuart Duncan.

A DC-based progressive bluegrass band featuring the duet singing of Dede Wyland and Randy Barrett. The group offers a mix of original songs plus reinterpretations of classic country, bluegrass and roots material. Dede is a nationally recognized vocalist while Randy is a well-established singer songwriter and banjoist. Together with Ira Gitlin on bass and Tom McLaughlin on mandolin, Big Howdy sounds unlike any other band. And that's the way they like it

Dede Wyland - Vocals Guitar

Randy Barrett - Vocals, Banjo, Guitar

Ira Gitlin - Vocal, Bass

Tom McLaughlin - Vocals, Mandolin, Guitar

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