The Dirty Grass Players at the Roots Cellar (Ramblin’ Folk)
January 8 @ 7:30 pm
Online ticket sales end at noon on the day of the show. Tickets will be available at the box office.
“It’s hard to match Billy Strings’ blend of traditional and progressive bluegrass with heady jams, but if anyone comes close it’s The Dirty Grass Players. The Baltimore-based group packed the DelFest Music Hall during the early afternoon on Saturday and did just that, mixing originals like ‘Shiny Side Up’ with reinvented covers of Queen’s ‘Don’t Stop Me Now’ and New Grass Revival’s ‘This Heart of Mine’ that brought the burgeoning crowd to a fever pitch.” — Matt Wickstrom, Holler Country
With a nod to the past and a wink to the future from behind their sunglasses, Baltimore’s The Dirty Grass Players have been pushing the leading edge of bluegrass music since 2015. As convincing on a 10-minute jam as they are on a 2-minute classic, they find an intersection between progress and tradition that in one set could inspire Flatt & Scruggs to reunite and then break up all over again. With harmonies to please any purist, compositions fresh enough to have been written tomorrow, and improvisations that fearlessly stride to the end of every limb, this band can play as clean as anybody, but isn’t afraid to get a little dirty.
After starting with jams between founders Ben Kolakowski (guitar) and Ryan Rogers (mandolin), DGP quickly made a name in the Baltimore scene before hitting the road. Since then, they’ve toured the US and Europe and made appearances at festivals like Grey Fox, DelFest, Dark Star Jubilee, ROMP, Bristol Rhythm & Roots, and the Rotterdam Bluegrass Festival. With Connor Murray on bass since 2021 and the addition of Sam Guthridge on banjo in 2024, a reinvigorated lineup is on the road and coming your way.
Calliope’s Ramblin’ Folk Series features regionally & nationally touring musicians at the Roots Cellar.