Doors at 8pm / Music at 8:30
THE LIL SMOKIES
Andy Dunnigan: dobro, vocals
The Reverend Matthew Rieger: guitar, vocals
Jake Simpson: fiddle, guitar, vocals
Jean Luc Davis: bass
Sam Armstrong Zickefoose: banjo
“Under Big Sky/Big Mountain stand/Keep watchful eye/On my Montana Flower”
Even though often called a “newgrass” or jam band, the Lil Smokies’ high-energy acoustic music has evolved into its own distinctive sound on their fourth and latest studio album, Break of the Tide, which finds them emerging from the Covid lockdown stronger than ever.
“Sort of a fusion of lyric-driven folk music, pop harmonies and bluegrass instruments” is the way Montana native and band founder Andy Dunnigan describes the Lil Smokies music, which also evokes contemporary country-folk-rock groups like Mumford & Sons and the Avett Brothers.
With a nearly five-year gap from their last album, 2020’s Tornillo, the band has added two new members in bassist Jean Luc Davis and banjo player Sam Armstrong Zickefoose to the core trio of dobro player Dunnigan, Seattle-based lead guitarist Matthew Rieger and fiddler Jake Simpson, now dividing his time between Montana and Oklahoma.