Lynchburg VA center for arts, culture, and community building
Suppose, just suppose, you could take a little of everything that’s great about this country and distill it. It’s creativity, it’s ingenuity, it’s the strength of the struggles of so many of it’s people – indigenous, enslaved, or otherwise. And then take that distilled energy and creativity and transform it to a musical form. What would you say if someone told you that it’s being done?
Gangstagrass is a collective of musicians who demolish every preconception you have about country music and hip-hop music. The boundaries are gone and Gangstagrass is out there doing things nobody though would work but when you hear it you know, down in your soul, that it does work. We bring the thump of the boom bap and the twang of the high lonesome and make something new.
We are Gangstagrass, deal with it.
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A true example of the belief that we are better together, Gangstagrass combines great American traditions of bluegrass, hip-hop, and beyond to create a whole new musical genre that is more than the sum of its parts.
Gangstagrass is a multi-racial collective of musicians who demolish every preconception you have about country music and hip-hop music. These string pickers and MCs create a shared cultural space for dialogue and connection between folks that usually never intersect. The boundaries are gone and Gangstagrass is out there doing things nobody thought would work but when you hear it you know, down in your soul, that it does work. Gangstagrass is here to help us party together with an irresistible blend of America’s rural and urban music traditions.
Integrating banjo and fiddle with hip-hop beats and rapping may be something Gangstagrass does for the love of the music, but it has led them to face a history of racialized genres and deeply ingrained sense of cultural incompatibility. Creating music that turns what some would consider opposite musical styles into a rollicking party that suddenly makes sense, they found a byproduct of their disregard for traditional sense of genre was that they got people who normally would consider themselves to have nothing in common dancing to the same beat. Forget everything you thought you knew about our cultural divisions: when Gangstagrass starts playing, those preconceptions are relegated to the dustbin of history. Banjo and fiddle seamlessly meet verbal acrobatics from skilled MCs. High lonesome harmonies flow over block-rockin’ beats.
“There are a lot more people out there with Jay-Z and Johnny Cash on their playlists than you think,” says Gangstagrass Mastermind Rench, who had previously made a name for himself as an in-demand Brooklyn country and hip-hop producer and singer/songwriter. He should know – he’s toured the country and abroad with a band of bluegrass pickers and hip-hop MCs to the delight of standing-room crowds everywhere. Initially known for the Emmy-nominated theme song to the hit FX Network show “Justified”, the band has become a formidable force in live performance, touring extensively in the USA, Canada, and Europe.
When the band’s fifth studio album No Time For Enemies was released in 2020, Americana Highways proclaimed Gangstagrass “America’s Band” because they take so much of what’s amazing about this country — the ingenuity, creativity, the strength and struggles of such different people to forge a path into the unknown — and distill it into a message of common ground and unity across differences. The album quickly rose to #1 on the Billboard bluegrass chart, the first time in history that hip-hop MCs achieved that top spot.
More recently, between appearances on America’s Got Talent and PBS’s The Caverns Sessions that made everyone’s highlights list, and a glowing full-page article in the New York Times print edition headlined “This Is the Music America Needs,” the band is geared up to get us all dancing on common ground for their national and international tours and their forthcoming full-length album release in the summer of 2024.
Academy Member Presale begins Monday, May 20, 2024. Remaining tickets will be released to the public on Friday, May 24, 2024. All sales begin at 10 AM EST.
Academy Members Level 5+ Pre-Sale: Monday, May 20, 2024
Academy Members Level 4+ Pre-Sale: Tuesday, May 21, 2024
Academy Members Level 3+ Pre-Sale: Wednesday, May 22, 2024
Academy Members Level 1+ Pre-Sale: Thursday, May 23, 2024
General Public On-Sale: Friday, May 24, 2024
General Admission: $32*
*Plus taxes and fees
For more information or to purchase tickets to this performance, contact our Bank of the James Ticketing Office at (434) 846-8499.
This is a General Admission, standing room only performance. For those with ADA seating needs, please contact the Box Office for assistance.
All patrons, regardless of age, must have a ticket for this event unless otherwise stated. All ages are welcome.
Videography and audio recording during the performances are prohibited. Photography of the set on stage is allowed pre-show, post-show, and during intermission. But we do ask that you show our designers and visiting performers some love by crediting them (and by tagging us) in your social media posts.
The Academy Center of the Arts offers a diverse selection of entertainment. Not all productions may appeal to or be appropriate for every guest or for all ages. Ticket buyers should take responsibility for making informed decisions regarding their purchases. We recommend visiting the official show website of each show you are coming to see at the Academy. If you ever have questions about the content or appropriateness of a show, please contact us at [email protected].
Our lobby doors open 60 minutes prior to show time. House doors open 30 minutes prior to show time for seating.
Parking is available on-site and throughout downtown Lynchburg. Our parking map (linked below) shows all of the free public and paid parking available. In addition, street parking is also available on most streets.
Ticketing purchases are non-refundable. By purchasing a ticket to an event at The Academy Center of the Arts, you are agreeing to our ticketing policy. View our full ticketing policy.
Want to volunteer and see this show for free? Contact Mele Thompson, [email protected], for more information.