Daily Pioneer News

PLATTEVILLE - The first-ever Heartland Music Festival at the University of Wisconsin-Platteville's Heartland Festival will feature four folk and bluegrass bands in one concert Sunday, June 13. The performances start at 2 p.m. and run to 9 p.m., with ethnic foods celebrating the cultural diversity of southwest Wisconsin available for purchase.

"We have done music in the past for the Heartland Festival but this is our first venture into bluegrass and folk music," said John Hassig, executive director of the Heartland Festival and UWP director of performing and visual arts. "For this year we have everything from traditional Irish to straight-ahead bluegrass, which of course finds its roots in Irish and Celtic music. This kind of music is so infectious in its rhythms it will be a great experience."

The bands begin at 2 p.m. with Pogue Mahone, a Platteville-based band that is putting their stamp on traditional Celtic music. The ensemble plays mainly traditional Irish music but also explores a large amount of folk music from other areas of the world.

Next up at 3:30 p.m. is The Paradise String Band from Whitewater. Throughout their musical journey, they have immersed themselves in Celtic, bluegrass, folk and "old timey" music. These ingredients have spawned this band's own unique blend of American roots music. Debuting in coffee houses from Waukesha to Waukegan, the PSB has performed at major festivals including Milwaukee Irish Fest (2002) and the Silver Moon annual Bluegrass Festival (2002).

The 5 p.m. hour brings Frogwater from Milwaukee, two-time Wisconsin Area Music Industry Award winners whose unique blend of music brings a crazy-quilt quality to their performances. Frogwater is Susan Jeske-Dermody (fiddle, vocals) and John Nicholson (guitar, banjo, vocals). Each musician adds a particular spice to the stew of Celtic, American old-time, bluegrass, Cajun and blues music. Their performances have become known for a combination of energy, power and musical sophistication that has made Frogwater a fixture at such high-profile events as Summerfest, Bastille Days and Irish Fest.

The final performers, The Bills, hail from Vancouver Island on Canada's beautiful west coast. Hitting the stage at 7 p.m., this extraordinary quintet is renowned among music fans of all ages for their masterful musicianship, lush vocal arrangements, exuberant live performances, evocative songwriting and wonderfully innovative interpretations of traditional tunes from around the globe. They have quickly gained international recognition as one of folk music's most inventive, talented, and entertaining acoustic acts. Drawing inspiration from European styles, the rhythms of Latin America, the melodies of wandering Romany peoples and traditional styles from musical coast to musical coast of their own continent, The Bills have forged a sophisticated down home style all their own.

Tickets for the Heartland Music Festival are $15 for general admission, $8 for UWP students and children under 18 and may be purchased from the box office at 608-342-1298.

The Heartland Festival runs from June 9 to July 25 on the University of Wisconsin-Platteville campus. More information on the Heartland Festival and its productions of "Annie," "The Odd Couple" and "Pump Boys & Dinettes" can be found online at http://www.uwplatt.edu/arts/heartland.