Lawrence.com

Kentucky's Red State Ramblers headlines the String Band Summit II at Lawrence's new old-timey hotspot Dempsey's Pub. The Ramblers have been playing around Kentucky for several years, promoting Appalachian folk music and its traditions. With so much music emanating from the area, past and present, the wealth of great source material is bottomless.For 19 years, one of the mainstays of bluegrass and traditional country music in northeast Kansas was a band called Calhoun County. When that band broke up at the end of 2002, four of the members formed The Ready Brothers. Like their predecessors, the Brothers knew they wanted to play more than bluegrass. The songs that fit the band's instrumentation -- washboard, guitar, banjo and bass -- came quickly and included western swing, folk, blues and roots music.Lawrence's old-timey bluegrass quartet The Prairie Acre recently celebrated the release of its third CD "Jaybird and the Sparrow-Hawk". The fast-picking-and-faster-fiddling foursome has picked up the pace in the last year, playing venues from Branson, MO, to Colorado. The band has made great strides musically, sharpening their hootenanny-caliber yawp with hearty heapings of clawhammer banjo and traditional fiddle. The band's repetoire primarily spans public domain songs, but joyous originals are interspersed without skipping a beat. Bring Grandma, bring the kids, and don't forget the lemonade 'cause the whole family is gonna be dancing something fierce. Listen to our podcast preview of the new album.Early all-ages show starts at 6pm.