PUTNEY, Vt. – Next Stage Arts Project and Twilight Music present Nashville-based bluegrass quintet Liam Purcell & Cane Mill Road, and Vermont-based singer-songwriter Diane Zeigler at Next Stage, on Sunday, Sept. 20, at 7 p.m.
Characterized by No Depression as “the future of bluegrass,” Liam Purcell & Cane Mill Road twine innovation, tradition, and excellence into a unique musical experience. Though only in his 23rd year, North Carolina’s Liam Purcell has already established a name for himself in the world of American string-band music. Growing up in Deep Gap, N.C., less than a mile away from the legendary guitarist Doc Watson, Purcell was steeped in Appalachian, old-time, and bluegrass traditions from an early age.
Departing his native Appalachia, Purcell took up residence in Boston while attending Berklee College of Music, following in the footsteps of Molly Tuttle, Infamous Stringdusters, Sierra Hull, Crooked Still, and many others who came out of the college’s famed American roots program. In 2022, Purcell shook the bluegrass world by sweeping the Rockygrass Instrumental Championships in Colorado, taking home first-place honors on mandolin, banjo, and guitar. He is the only person to ever achieve a simultaneous victory in multiple championships. Finishing his degree in string performance, Purcell graduated from Berklee in May of 2024, promptly hitting the road for more than two months of heavy touring. Relocating to Nashville, Tenn., Purcell maintains his Deep Gap roots, watering them on stage each night in front of new audiences, as if to transport listeners beyond the lights and curtains, to a front porch up in the mountains where the journey all began.
The winner of eight national songwriting awards, Vermont’s Zeigler combines a crystalline vocal style with distinctive open-tuning guitar work, crafting songs that have earned her respect among songwriters and critics as “one of the most talented singer-songwriters New England has produced,” according to The Music Matters. Zeigler emerged on the Boston folk scene in the early ‘90s and quickly established herself as an important voice in the era’s new singer-songwriter movement. Her debut CD on Rounder Records was released in 1995 to critical acclaim. She went on to release three additional independent albums, each reaching No. 1 on national folk radio playlists, while balancing her growing family, before stepping away from music entirely after the birth of her third child in 2006. Earlier this year, when her youngest entered college, Zeigler began writing songs again. She is now planning a new album, and is back to regional performing. She will be accompanied by her husband and bassist Geoffrey Sather, formerly of Brattleboro, and Bruce and Barry Stockwell, of the Stockwell Brothers.
Next Stage is located at 15 Kimball Hill in downtown Putney, Vt. Tickets are discounted if purchased in advance at www.nextstagearts.org. Next Stage will provide a beer, wine, and cocktail cash bar. For information, call 802-387-0102 or visit www.nextstagearts.org.