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Bluegrass Jamboree returns

The Little Roy and Lizzy Show will be among the performers at Trumbull County Fairgrounds for Mitch and Cindy's Bluegrass Jamboree. (Submitted photo)

BAZETTA — A two-year layoff doesn’t appear to have hurt the momentum for Mitch and Cindy’s Bluegrass Jamboree.

“Presale tickets have been better than it’s ever been before,” co-founder Cindy Matheson said. “People seem much more interested than before about getting out with family, doing something outdoors.”

The bluegrass festival planned Memorial Day weekend at the Trumbull County Fairgrounds was started by Matheson and Mitch Meadors in 2018, but the 2020 and 2021 editions were canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

“Mitch and I were both raised in the bluegrass world,” Matheson said. “We went to bluegrass festivals, attended them throughout childhood. We know a lot of musicians and bands, and Mitch plays in one of the bands, Clay Hess’ band, who was guitar player for Ricky Skaggs.

The Clay Hess Band will perform May 27, both playing its own set and providing accompaniment for live bluegrass karaoke. Also performing the first day will be Drive Time, Marshele Bradford and Brian Holbrook and Poor Bottom Grass.

Acts on May 28 include Hammertowne, the Little Roy and Lizzy Show, Midnight Storm, Crabgrass and New Outlook

“Hammertowne is a really great traditional but hard-driving bluegrass band that we personally love and think our audience will as well,” Matheson said. “Little Roy was in a family band back in the ’90s that played in this area almost every weekend, at least a couple times a month. A lot of the older people who went to festivals before will remember him.”

A new attraction this year will be a program Saturday by David Harvey, who is a master luthier (maker of stringed instruments).

“We purchased a mandolin from Mr. Harvey, a Bill Monroe Hall of Fame replica built to sound just like Bill Monroe’s mandolin,” Matheston said. “We got to be really good friends with him and asked if he could talk about the history of Gibson. He’ll take us through the growth of Gibson and the different instruments. He’s bringing some instruments from the early 1900s and will explain how the instruments came about and the transitions over the years.”

The final day of the festival will start with a church service and gospel music as well as a celebration of life for musicians Jim Metz and Hershel Blevins.

A Trumbull County honor guard will do a presentation, and a portion of the proceeds will be donated to disabled veterans.

If you go …

WHAT: Mitch and Cindy’s Bluegrass Jamboree

WHEN: May 27 to 29

WHERE: Trumbull County Fairgrounds, 899 Everett Hull Road, Bazetta.

HOW MUCH: Weekend passes are $55. Daily tickets are $25 on Friday, $30 on Saturday and $10 on Sunday. There is a separate $20 fee for nonweekend pass holders to attend David Harvey’s early Gibson instruments presentation. Tickets are available online at mitchand

cindysbluegrass.com and at the gate. For more information, call 330-770-9515.

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