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Jonathan Byrd headlines Oak Grove Music Festival

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jonathan byrdRenowned Folk/Americana songwriter Jonathan Byrd brings his show to the Staunton area on Saturday, August 8, when he performs at Oak Grove Folk Music Festival.

Jonathan Byrd and The Pickup Cowboys are musical gunslingers, vaudevillian hucksters, and old-fashioned tent revivalists. Between heartbreaking ballads and hell-raising sing-alongs, the Cowboys entertain, inspire, and get audiences involved in the show.

Byrd is a preacher’s son, a Gulf War veteran, and an award-winning songwriter from Chapel Hill, North Carolina. Fifteen years into his music career, Byrd’s songs are campfire favorites at folk festivals. The Chicago Tribune called Byrd “one of the top 50 songwriters of the past 50 years.”

Cellist Paul Ford played bass with songwriter James Deely and Pittsburgh’s rock legend Norm Nardini. Electric guitarist Johnny Waken met Paul Ford in Norm Nardini’s band, and they worked together for six years in the U.S. and Europe. A celebrated prodigy, Waken was invited to play Jon Bon Jovi’s birthday and Bon Jovi keyboardist David Bryan’s wedding.

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