Tannery Pond Center presents our Winter Coffeehouse Concert Series: The Bluebillies
March 2 | 3 PM
Tickets: $15 in advance, $20 Day of Concert, FREE for Youth 18 and younger.
For advance price tickets, please visit the TPC box office, or call (518) 251-2505, or purchase online thru Eventbrite. We have limited tickets available for "Day of Event" which will be sold on a first come first serve basis. We will also begin a wait list of names at the event window for tickets not picked-up. Tickets not picked up by 10 prior to the event will be issued to wait list customers.
This concert is supported by a generous grant from the Glenn & Carol Pearsall Adirondack Foundation and the NY State Council on the Arts. We are grateful for their support.
The Bluebillies don’t just sing Country songs; they embody them, performing their unique blend of country, bluegrass and folk music with traditional style, sound and spirit. Husband and wife team Mark and Melody Guarino have been singing together since 1984 when they first made it their mission to help revive and preserve the rich heritage of this great and uniquely American art form. With the addition of Tucker Callander on fiddle and guitarist Greg Bucking, the Bluebillies were complete and perform together with all the joy and simpatico that only a “family” band can produce. The Bluebillies produce a series of traveling Old-time Gospel Music Revues each season, and also host their own gospel music open mic each summer, and have released three Cd’s; Adirondack Angels in 2016, Gal From Ioway in 2014, and Train to Paradise in 2013.
Listen HERE for a sample of their music.
Mel “Melba Deen” Guarino
Mel was born in Sioux City Iowa to parents who both were musicians in swing bands. The family traveled all around the Midwest following the music and eventually settled in her dirt road one horse hometown of Black Oak Indiana. After hitchhiking and traveling all over the USA, Mel settled in New York City where she played with various rock and folk bands. But soon she returned to the music she first heard and loved in Black Oak, where Country Music was the
music of choice among the population who had moved up North to find work in the gritty steel mills of Whiting and Gary. And it was the music that would become the driving force behind The Bluebillies style that forges close harmony bluegrass and hillbilly music into one heart-wrenching allAmerican wail. Melody is a prolific, award winning songwriter (LARAC songwriter grant, 2013).
Mark Guarino
Mark cut his teeth on rockabilly and country in his first band, Buck Libido, and opened for bands like Pure Prairie League and New Riders of the Purple Sage. His NYC based band, The Ring, toured New England opening for acts such as The Ramones, Jason and the Scorchers, and Whitesnake. He is an accomplished songwriter and seasoned stage performer, well known throughout the lower Adirondack region.
Greg Bucking
Greg has spent the past two decades writing for and performing in a variety of projects and musical styles. One of his current bands, The Vine Brothers, has recorded three albums and spent the last five years touring across the US, His song “Three Bottles” was featured on the Discovery Channel show Vegas Rat Rods, Greg also wrote and recorded three albums for the New York based Mother Freedom, one for Broken Carousel, and penned the score for the independent film My Brother Jack. Greg also regularly performs with the NYC ska sensations The Scofflaws.
Tucker James Callander
Tucker began playing violin at age 5 and never stopped. He pursued and studied classical violin all the way through college, where he earned his bachelor’s degree in Violin Performance from Syracuse University. Tucker is currently based in the Saratoga area of upstate New York where he is a much sought after violinist and fiddler. Tucker prides himself on being versatile and giving his heart to whatever he is called upon to do, whether it’s a jazz concert, a classical violin wedding ceremony or a barn burner at the Irish pub!
Tucker has been fortunate to play most of the biggest festivals and venues in the Capital Region area including the SPAC Jazz Fest, Grey Fox Bluegrass Festival, MVP Arena with the Trans Siberian Orchestra, the Egg, the historic Café Lena and lots of fairs and country festivals.
