The Cousin Brothers set to kick off Summer concerts at The Arts Park Pavilion on May 22nd
By: Kevin Vickery
As warmer temperatures make their way in for the season, The Arts Park Pavilion in downtown New Castle will be the hot spot in town as the Summer concerts return for another year of great music and family fun.
These annual concerts, will kick off on Friday, May 22nd with The Cousin Brothers featuring, “Banjo-Ben” Long on guitar, banjo and vocals, the Capital City’s own TR Yelton on drums, Chicago native turned Hoosier, Dave Bagdade on guitars, mandolin and vocals and yours truly on bass and vocals.
The Cousin Brothers have been performing regionally in and around Indiana for over 21 years and this will be the band’s fourth appearance at The Arts Park Pavilion but the first in over a decade. The show starts at 6:30PM with an opening set from New Castle’s own, Miles Mann, immediately followed by The Cousin Brothers at 7:00PM.
Ben and I co-formed the band in 2004 with the goal of mixing equal parts bluegrass, rock & roll, classic country,and comedy into a sound that we call, “power-grass”. We enjoy playing bluegrass versions of popular rock songs as well as our own original material.
The Cousin Brothers are best know for our five-year stint on WRZX-103’s, “The Stuck & Gunner Show” where we performed live in studio with a weekly rally song for the Indianapolis Colts and for our monthly gig at The Melody Inn in Indianapolis during, “Hillbilly Happy Hour” for the last 19 years or so.
The New Castle crowd can expect to hear our songs, “Pork”, an upbeat, bluegrass celebration of eating our favorite cloven hoofed critter and mid-tempo waltz, “Wild Country Musk” which tells the tale of growing up learning life-lessons from my Grandpa including how to shave and what cologne to wear.
We will also be treating them to some of our unusual Cousin Brothers style versions of songs like Prince’s, “Purple Rain” and Van Halen’s, “Ain’t Talkin” Bout Love”. The Cousin Brothers are looking forward to getting back to downtown New Castle for a show. The Arts Park Pavilion in particular is a fantastic place for live music not only from the crowd’s perspective but also from the stage. After all, where else can you feel trains unexpectedly blasting directly behind you at break-neck speed while you’re in the middle of a song? It’s exhilarating and I can’t wait to experience it again!
Local talent, Miles Mann will open The Arts Park show at 6:30PM with an acoustic set of original material from his albums, “Daydreams & Nightmates“, which Miles describes as, “More of a hip-hop, R & B type thing.” and his newer release, “ME”. Miles says, “That album took a lot more effort. It’s more authentic and means a lot more to myself – every song has its purpose and was planned beforehand- It felt complete.”
I’ve seen Miles perform a few times over the last year and he does a great job with his original material and is also known to throw in a cool cover song by The Beatles, or even Radiohead, which are real crowd pleasers. I’m sure he’ll also treat the cried to his newest single, “Pack Up Your Bags”, a great tune that is available for streaming on all major platforms.
On returning to The Arts Park Pavilion for the second time Miles said, “I’m really excited to do it – I love playing outside because I think the sound travels a lot better – I think it will be great!”
The Henry County Concert Series will officially kick off with Duke Tumatoe on Friday, June 19th, Sofa Kings on Friday, July, 17th, The Why Store on Friday, August 21st, and Henry Lee Summer on Friday, September 18th. All showtimes are 7pm with support acts opening the show at 6:30pm.
This special, early kickoff in association with the Henry County Concert Series featuring The Cousin Brothers and Miles Mann serves as a fundraising event for The New Castle High School Band Boosters and is made possible by generous donations from Vickie Bertram and Beverly & Duane Matthews.
To keep up with Miles Mann, you can find him on all social media outlets and his music is available on all major streaming platforms.
The best way to stay in touch with The Cousin Brothers is through the band’s Facebook page.
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