NORWICH – The 2018 NBT Bank Free Thursdays Summer Concert Series will kick-off at 7 p.m. Thursday night in Norwich's East Park with the musical stylings of "Victor Wainwright and The Train" following a commemorative community block party presented by the Chenango Blues Association at 6:30 p.m.

Victor Wainwright and The Train will take to the stage following the block party commemorating the first summer concert of the series, featuring free Nina's pizza, Gilligan's ice cream by the Norwich cheer team, hot dogs by the Norwich Rotary, and Cabot's Cheese by Cabot's Community Team in East Park while supplies last.

The concert will be the first of nine in the series running every Thursday night through the end of the month of August.

A composer, producer, vocalist, piano player, and award-winning entertainer, Wainwright has been named "Pinetop Perkins Piano Player of the Year" at the Blues Music Awards in 2013 and 2014, and also in 2013, his collaborative album "Easy Livin'" climbed into the Top 10 of the United States' Billboard Top Blues Album Chart.