Kansas Public Radio is thrilled to ring in 30 years of Trail Mix with a very special event. Join us at the Lied Center of Kansas Pavilion on November 11 at 7:30 p.m. in celebration of Trail Mix and host Bob McWilliams alongside prolific folk singer/songwriter Dar Williams.
Mobile, Alabama singer/songwriter, Abe Partridge, will open the evening.
Tickets on sale Wednesday, May 15.
Dar Williams was always in the right place at the right time for the success she’s had over a 25+-year career. She rose out of the vibrant mid-'90s Boston scene, inspired by the eclectic influences of alt-rockers, Berklee jazz musicians, slam poets, and folk artists, like Patty Griffith, Melissa Ferrick, the Throwing Muses, Vance Gilbert, and Jonatha Brooke. After a year of touring non-stop with her first album, The Honesty Room, in 1994, she was invited by Joan Baez to tour in Europe and The United States.
Like everyone else, Williams spent 2020 in that state of non-control. She and longtime producer Stewart Lerman tracked most of the album, her 12th studio recording, in November of 2019. In late February of 2020, she cut the title tune in Woodstock with bassist Gail Ann Dorsey and Larry Campbell, who produced the track and played guitars, pedal steel and twangy baritone guitar. When told they had to postpone a mid-March mixing date, Campbell said he wasn’t feeling well anyway. Turns out he’d contracted a serious case of COVID-19. That was a clear sign that at some point, you have to meet life where it meets you… the common thread throughout that these songs, the willingness to meet life as it arrives.
Biography courtesy of Dar Williams.
Abe Partridge is a heralded musician, singer/songwriter, visual artist, and podcaster based in Mobile, Alabama. Since the release of his debut, Partridge has toured relentlessly, including several tours of the Netherlands and the U.K. developing a reputation for moving, passionate, and sometimes comedic, performances at prestigious songwriter festivals such as 30A Songwriters Festival, Frank Brown Songwriters Festival, and Americanafest. He is a regular at the Bluebird Café in Nashville and Eddie’s Attic in Decatur.
When Partridge is not writing or touring, he is also a highly acclaimed visual artist. American Songwriter Magazine said, “Abe Partridge has established himself as one of the most respected songwriters and visual folk artists in the southeast.”
Biography courtesy of Abe Partridge.
Bob McWilliams has hosted jazz programs on KANU and KPR since 1983, and became jazz director and Jazz in the Night’s host in 1996.
His love of folk, bluegrass and Americana led to the birth of Trail Mix in 1994 and the program has since cemented itself as a well-loved part of KPR's regular broadcast rotation. In its 30 year span, Trail Mix has celebrated and uplifted not just the historic classics of folk, but the local music landscape and the modern-day musicians that share their craft within our listening communities.
Here at KPR, we couldn't be happier for Bob during this momentous occasion; congratulations to Bob and Trail Mix for an outstanding 30 years!
Special thanks to the Lied Center of Kansas for their support in making this event possible!
