String band MilkDrive to close season’s Heritage Concert Series

The energetic, four-piece stringband MilkDrive will wrap up this season’s Heritage Concert Series when they appear at Happy Days Lodge on Friday, May 3.

The group’s performance is presented by the National Park Service and the Conservancy for Cuyahoga Valley National Park, celebrating the cultural legacy of the Cuyahoga Valley. This series is made possible thanks to the generous support of 89.7 FM (WKSU), Cable 9 Television, Courtyard by Marriott of Akron/Stow, the Lloyd L. and Louise K. Smith Foundation, and Time Warner Cable.

Jazz-grass band MilkDrive features award-winning instrumentalists Brian Beken on fiddle and lead vocals, Noah Jeffries on guitar and harmony vocals, Dennis Ludiker on mandolin and harmony vocals, and Matt Mefford on double bass. But awards reveal nothing about the Austin, Texas, string band’s exhilarating sound. Fueled by equal parts tradition and innovation, MilkDrive delivers a distinctive acoustic experience that crosses genres, geographies, and generations.

Andrew Dansby of the Houston Chronicle calls the MilkDrive repertoire “a virtuosic blast of bluegrassy string-band music.” With labels that range from jamgrass and nu-folk to redneck gypsy jazz, the band has built a following that’s as funky and friendly as they are. The group plays festivals from coast to coast every year, with stops in between at Colorado’s beloved RockyGrass Festival and at home at the Austin City Limits Music Festival.

Happy Days Lodge, located at 500 West Streetsboro Road (State Route 303) in Peninsula 44264, 1 mile west of State Route 8, is a restored Civilian Conservation Corps structure that provides a rustic ambiance for folk and traditional concerts, theater, lectures, and special event rentals. For more information on rentals, call the Conservancy at 330-657-2909 ext. 119.

Admission is $17 adults, $12 Conservancy members, and $5 children ages 3 - 12. General seating. The show begins at 8 p.m. Doors open at 7 p.m. Advance sales are available until 3 p.m. on Friday for that weekend’s show by calling 330-657-2909. All students with a current I.D. card will be admitted for the special $12 price.