THIS FRIDAY: Larry Sparks & the Lonesome Ramblers | Planet Riders

Columbus Recreation and Parks Department is proud to bring bluegrass legend, Larry Sparks & the Lonesome Ramblers to Bicentennial Park this Friday.

“The youngest of the old-timers” is what Larry Sparks calls himself, but what he doesn’t say is that in the course of his fifty years in bluegrass he’s created a body of work whose highlights stand beside the work of the music’s first-generation greats.

Strumming since the 1960’s with the Stanley Brothers, it took less than a decade for Sparks to form his own band, The Lonesome Ramblers. More than five decades and 60 albums later, Sparks will perform a show that has graced the stages of the Grand Ole Opry, Austin City Limits television show and many PBS appearances.

Inducted into multiple hall-of-fames, including the International Bluegrass Music Association’s Hall of Fame (IBMA), Larry Sparks’ success is backed up with an IBMA Male Vocalist of the Year, Album of the Year and Recorded Event of the Year—which featured several artists such as Alison Krauss, Vince Gill, Ralph Stanley, Ricky Skaggs, Tom T. Hall and many more.

“Larry Sparks is bluegrass music’s Ray Charles, no one can touch him. He is an absolute original.”     —Alison Krauss

Columbus’ own Planet Riders will kick off the evening. With tight vocal harmonies to complex instrumental arrangements, these original acoustic musicians walk a fine line between traditional and progressive bluegrass music. All professionally trained musicians, the band’s members have been featured internationally and nationally for their innovative picking and playing, offering a clean cut performance inspired by legends like Larry Sparks himself.

Schedule:
6:30 p.m.—Food and Beverage Sales Begin
7:30 p.m.—Planet Riders, followed by Larry Sparks and the Lonesome Ramblers

Rhythm on the River and Movies on the Mile are produced by the Columbus Recreation and Parks Department and made possible through the generous support of the Scioto Mile Endowment Fund: Columbus Downtown Development Corporation, ABC 6/ FOX 28, Rewind 103.5/104.3, Donatos, WCBE 90.5FM, Crowne Plaza-Columbus Downtown and Gateway Film Center.