The Time Jumpers swing into Renaissance Center May 4

Release Date: 4/16/2003. Expired: 5/4/2003

The Time Jumpers, named Swing Band of the Year by the Academy of Western Artists, brings its unique brand of “Cowboy Jazz” to The Renaissance Center’s Performance Hall Sunday, May 4. Special guests will be acoustic duo The Cantrells.

Tickets for the 2 p.m. concert are $12 for adults, $10 for seniors and $5 for children under 13.

The highly acclaimed nine-piece swing band features local fiddler and Grand Ole Opry band member Hoot Hester, Dickson County resident Dennis Crouch of Nashville Bluegrass Band on bass and professional touring and session musicians who have played on numerous major artists’ records - from Willie Nelson to Ray Charles.

Formed in 1998 when Hester wanted to get together with some friends and play western swing for their own enjoyment, The Time Jumpers went from playing for fun in a garage to now having released two albums, a regular Monday night show at Nashville’s Station Inn and being named Swing Band of the Year for 2002 by the Texas-based Academy of Western Artists.

The band has been through a few lineup changes but currently consists of Hester (fiddle, vocals), Crouch (bass), Johnny Cox (steel guitar), Andy Reiss (guitar), Rick Vanaugh (drums), Jeff Taylor (accordion, vocals), Kenny Sears (fiddle, vocals), Carolyn Martin (vocals) and “Ranger Doug” Green of Riders in the Sky (guitar, vocals).

“A lot of the stuff we do are Big Band sounds like Embraceable You and that sort of music,” Hester said in an interview in The Nashville Musician. “In fact, a lot of the songs we write are in that style.”

Hester has been a regular in the Grand Ole Opry band as well as playing on Nashville Now and Dancin’ USA on TNN. He has also played on albums by Conway Twitty, Willie Nelson, the Statler Brothers, Ray Charles, Vern Gosdin, Bill Monroe, Gene Watson and Manhattan Transfer, among others.

He started his session work with artists like Mel Tillis and Jerry Reed and played on early hits for Randy Travis and Ricky Van Shelton.

The band’s newest album was recorded live at the Station Inn, where an occasional appearance turned into a regular Monday night show.

“It was done like an old radio show, though we did it in the studio,” said Hester.

The award as Western Swing Band of the Year was a surprise to the group, which didn’t even know it had been submitted. But it also turned out to be an inspiration.

“We’re working on another album that’s going to be nothing but original swing songs. These are things the band has written,” Hester said.

Western Swing grew out of the height of popularity for Big Band music. When artists such as Glenn Miller, Harry James and Tommy Dorsey ruled the airwaves and dancehalls, Texas bands were putting their own twist in halls across the Lone Star State. Fiddler Bob Wills emerged as one of the most well known artists of the new genre with his Texas Playboys. The sound carries on today with groups such as Asleep at the Wheel.

After playing on Nashville Now for more than 10 years and then hitting the road with Steve Wariner, Hester met bass player Crouch when he moved into the same neighborhood in Dickson County and the two discovered a mutual love of western swing music.

The pair started getting together with other musicians just to play the music they loved and before long the group started to fall into place. A jam session backstage at the Opry one night showed all of them that they had something going.

While the albums and recent award are enjoyable, they are just the icing on the cake for Hester and his bandmates. What started out just as a chance to play the music they wanted to play hasn’t really changed. It’s just now more people want to hear them play it, as evidenced by the growing crowds at their Monday night shows.

Al and Emily Cantrell put a pop spin on acoustic folk and bluegrass, with detours into Celtic, western swing and Americana. Chosen by Robert Redford to appear playing fiddle tunes in his hit movie A River Runs Through It, The Cantrells cast a magical spell with Emily’s soaring vocals and Al’s spirited fiddling and dazzling mandolin.

The Cantrells bring an airy, joyful acoustic sound, with Emily’s fluid, jazzy style reminiscent of Joni Mitchell, while husband Al plays off his wife’s Martin guitar with his fiddle, mandolin and mandola.

Emily grew up on her family’s cotton and soybean farm outside Memphis while Al was raised in a rural area near Seattle. The two met when Al became a fiddler in Emily’s band in Colorado. When the band broke up, Emily and Al stayed together, marrying in 1985. They moved to Nashville and recently release their third album, Dancing with the Miller’s Daughter.

They have been featured on Mountain Stage, Riders Radio Theater, Folk Sampler, E-Town and River City Folk, as well as numerous other nationally syndicated radio programs. Their albums have included the talents of Bela Fleck, Jerry Douglas, Tim O’Brien and Riders in the Sky. Redford handpicked the pair to appear in the picnic scene of his movie.

For more information on The Time Jumpers and The Cantrells concert at The Renaissance Center, call (615)740-5600. To purchase tickets for the May 4 show, call (615)740-5570 or visit the center’s box office.

The Renaissance Center is an arts and technology education and performing arts center at 855 Highway 46 South in Dickson, just a 35-mile western swing from Nashville on Interstate 40 at exit 172.

Visit the Events - Concerts and Recitals page for more about musical performances.

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