NACOGDOCHES, Texas – The Red Brick Bluegrass Festival, formerly known as the Blueberry Bluegrass Concert in the Park, is set for Saturday, May 4, from 1 to 9 pm at Festival Park in downtown Nacogdoches. This free family-friendly concert is made possible by Presenting Sponsor Rex Perry Autoplex and will feature The Purple Hulls, Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Bluegrass Band, Riley Gilbreath and Lone Star Blue, and Steve and Sheryl Hartz.
For 8 years, bluegrass fans have braved the summer heat to enjoy the Blueberry Bluegrass Concert in the Park, which kicked off the annual Texas Blueberry Festival in Nacogdoches. With the move to a Saturday in spring, organizers hope more people will be able to spend more time enjoying the music, food and festive atmosphere.
“We have a great crowd every year, regardless of the temperature, which is a testament to the dedication of bluegrass lovers,” organizer Scott Waller said. “However, we know a lot of folks miss out because of the extreme heat, so we wanted to move the show to a weekend when everyone can enjoy it.”
The festival also will feature food trucks and vendors with some great options for delicious food, cold lemonade, and snow cones. Organizers encourage attendees to bring blankets and lawn chairs. The event is family-friendly, so please leave your coolers and alcohol at home. Pets on a leash are welcome. For more information, please visit www.redbrickbluegrass.com.
All are welcome at an open jam session Friday night from 6 pm to 9 pm in Festival Park in downtown Nacogdoches.
The Red Brick Bluegrass Festival is presented by Rex Perry Autoplex, Diamond Sponsor Eaton, Platinum Sponsors Commercial Bank of Texas, Ferrara’s Heating & Air Conditioning and Cataract Glaucoma and Retina Consultants of East Texas, Gold Sponsors Laird Funeral Home and Excel ER and Silver Sponsor The Fredonia Hotel. The “Green Room” is provided by Motorhomes of Texas. The Red Brick Bluegrass Festival is also very grateful for all the support from the City of Nacogdoches and Visit Nacogdoches.
THE ACTS
The Purple Hulls are identical twins Katy Lou and Penny Lea Clark. The Clark sisters were raised on a working family farm in Kilgore, and they paid for college with money from the family’s purple hull harvest. After graduation, they moved to Nashville, where they began touring with various country artists and writing songs for Nashville’s largest publishing company, Sony Tree. The sisters returned home in 2012 to care for their terminally ill father and they stayed in East Texas after he passed away, helping their mother with the farm while continuing their music career.
Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Bluegrass Band performs classics by The Beatles, with a bluegrass twist. The band, started by guitarist/vocalist Dave Walser, features bassist George Anderson, multi-instrumentalist Milo Dearing on fiddle, flute, dobro and anything else with strings, and Gerald Jones on banjo and mandolin.
Riley Gilbreath, a bluegrass/country artist from Crowley, Texas, was named The Texas State Banjo Champion in 2019, at age 15. In 2021, Riley formed Lone Star Blue, which includes David Sawyer on upright bass and tenor vocals, Bryan Hollifield on banjo and baritone vocals, and Sam Smith on mandolin.
Since 1977, Steve Hartz has been building, repairing, and playing stringed instruments at the General Mercantile and Oldtime String Shop on the square in downtown Nacogdoches. In 1998 he started his own recording company and received a Crossroads music award for his first CD, Crooked Steep and Rocky. This was followed by two East Texas inspired book and CD projects, By the Muddy Angelina and Settlers of the Western Woods. Steve’s original songs have been featured as title cuts on five different projects by other artists including original Dixie Chick member, Robin Macy, on Danger in the Air, David Peterson and 1946’s Howling Blue Winds, and Southern Rail’s Glory Train, which was nominated for the International Bluegrass Music Association’s gospel album of the year in 1996. Steve and his wife, Sheryl, perform with Jay White, who makes a perfect addition with his unique two-string washtub bass and harmonies. Before moving to Nacogdoches and becoming familiar with oldtime music, Jay spent more than 20 years performing as part of the country-rock scene in California, touring in Rick Nelson’s Stone Canyon Band, as well as playing with Doug Kershaw and Davy Jones of the Monkeys.