Award-winning bluegrass will highlight the Nightfall season finale this Friday at Miller Plaza, with a free headline performance by A.J. Lee & Blue Summit and opening act The New Dismembered Tennesseans. Chattanooga’s longest-running free summer concert series, Nightfall also features food trucks, local artisan vendors, and kids’ activities.
Review for the performers:
Headlining at 8 p.m., A.J. Lee & Blue Summit is a bluegrass band based in Santa Cruz, Ca. that combines a stunning blend of bluegrass, swing, Americana, rock, and country. The band has been performing since 2015 and has won multiple awards, including the 2019 Freshgrass Band Contest, the 2019 IBMA Momentum Vocalist of the Year, and the 2020 LNCBS Best Bluegrass Band.
The group met as teenagers, picking and jamming together as kids at local music festivals and jams until one day, they decided they would be a band. Energetic, charming, and technically jaw-dropping instrumentation combined with A.J. Lee’s smooth vocals have given quick rise to this band in the national roots music scene. This will be their first time to perform as a featured act in Chattanooga, but it won’t be their last.
One of Chattanooga’s most beloved bluegrass bands, The Dismembered Tennesseans, will open Friday’s show with a 7 p.m. set. Originally formed by famed east Tennessee fiddler and philanthropist Fletcher Bright with his school friends at McCallie School in 1947, The Dismembered Tennesseans became one of the most influential bluegrass bands in the region.
Following Fletcher Bright’s passing, original members Doc Cullis, Laura Walker and Don Cassel formed the New Dismembered Tennesseans in 2019, welcoming three new members: Bobby Burns, Fletcher’s granddaughter, Eleanor Bright, and Tom Morley. The new lineup has infused the band with new energy and a new sense of purpose, with a repertoire that both honors Fletcher and the original band.
A variety of local food trucks will be around the intersection of Georgia and M.L. King, and around 20 local artisans will offer their work for sale in Miller Park. Kids can also enjoy The Chattanooga Football Club’s inflatable soccer field and other children’s activities, including face painting and lawn games.
Come early to Nightfall to take advantage of “Nightfall Happy Hour” offering weekly drink specials from 5:30-6:30 p.m.
No outside food or beverages are allowed to be brought into Nightfall since concession sales are a primary funder of Nightfall (outside alcoholic beverages are prohibited by law at Miller Park/Plaza).
Known for its family-friendly environment as well as being recognized nationally for the quality of its musical programming, Nightfall is a family-friendly concert series that brings the Chattanooga community together in the heart of our city. Nightfall has again been nominated this year as “Best Local Event” by this community.
Nightfall is locally produced by Chattanooga Presents. For more information on this free community concert series, visit NightfallChattanooga.com.