Members Of Greensky Bluegrass, Infamous Stringdusters & More Announce Livestream Benefit Performance

Members Of Greensky Bluegrass, The Infamous Stringdusters and more have teamed up for a benefit concert on Friday, June 26 at 7 p.m. MT in support of the newly established Arnold Shultz Fund. An initiative of the International Bluegrass Music Association (IBMA) Foundation, The Arnold Shultz Fund’s mission is to “support diversity and inclusion as essential to the well-being and continued growth of bluegrass music.”

An African-American bluegrass guitarist and fiddler, Shultz was a pioneer of the Travis picking guitar style. Shultz’s music had a big influence on Bill Monroe, considered the Father of Bluegrass. Arnold Shultz Fund advisory committee co-chair and mandolinist in the Monroe style Dr. Richard S. Brown spoke about Shultz’s influence on Monroe in a statement:

Shultz is long overdue for recognition because of his influence on bluegrass music. Arnold played with Bill Monroe’s fiddling uncle Pen Vandiver as a guitarist. Shultz was also a sought-after fiddler and later hired Bill to play guitar for him at dances. Bill Monroe told me about Arnold Shultz and their dance gigs more than 50 years ago, when I was in my twenties. The stories would always end with Bill saying, “Now, isn’t that something?” Yes, it’s time to take Arnold Shultz, one of our hidden legends, out of obscurity and into the mainstream.

As the musicians participating in the benefit concert are from the Denver area, the band has been dubbed the Denver Bluegrass Allstars and consist of Andy Hall and Chris Pandolfi (the Infamous Stringdusters), Paul Hoffman (Greensky Bluegrass), Greg Garrison (Leftover Salmon) and flatpicking champion Tyler Grant.

“We feel it’s incredibly important to help promote diversity in bluegrass,” Hall stated. “A portion of proceeds from [the Denver Bluegrass Allstars] stream will go to the brand new Arnold Shultz Fund, powered by the IBMA Foundation. The goal of the foundation is to increase the participation of persons of color in bluegrass music. Let’s do what we can to help make bluegrass a place for everyone!”

The show is free but donations are encouraged. Click on the link below for info on how to tune via nugs.tv.