The 2021 NBT Free Summer Concert Series drew massive crowds. This year's Summer Concert Series kicks off with a performance by Fruition at 7 p.m. on Thursday, July 7 in East Park. (Photo by Dustin Genter of 5th Dimension Photography)

NORWICH – Summer is here, and so is the NBT Bank Summer Concert Series in Norwich’s East Park.

This year’s free Thursday concert series will again feature groups with artists hailing from all corners of the country. East Park is a great place to set up your chair and unfold your blanket for an evening of world class music.

Food vendors are on-site as well as up and down the street and there is also an adjacent beer garden. With expenses up everywhere, it’s hard to beat these free admission shows for a fun night out with friends and family.

The first concert of the year kicks off July 7 with Fruition, a Portland, Oregon based band that fuses acoustic music, bluegrass and rock and roll.

Next up on July 14 are the Travelin McCourys – a bluegrass powerhouse both historic and progressive.  After that is the much-anticipated return of Southside Johnny and the Asbury Jukes on July 21, a date you really want to circle on your calendar.

Following them in subsequent weeks are Austin’s favorite son Shinyribs, the Garcia Project and their very special guest Maria Muldaur, and ragtime jazz band Blair Crimmins and the Hookers.

On August 18 the unofficial kickoff of the Chenango Blues Fest will be a barnburner with the Mike Zito Big Band set to jump start the weekend. The NBT Bank Summer Concert Series concludes on August 25 with Trigger Hippy, a southern rock supergroup featuring Black Crowes drummer Steve Gorman, Band of Heathens front man Ed Jurdi and vocal powerhouse Amber Woodhouse.  Complete details can be found on the Chenango Blues Association homepage at www.chenangobluesfest.org

Blues Fest Organizers of the free concert series would like to express their appreciation to NBT Bank for their continued support in making these shows possible.

“NBT Bank has been with us from the beginning, and we could never have grown this concert series to what it is today without not only their monetary contributions, but also the support of many of their employees in helping promote and manage the shows.  It really demonstrates their commitment to our local community,” said Pam Larsen, the Chenango Blues Association’s Marketing Chairperson.

The NBT Bank Summer Concert Series also receives strong support from the Greater Norwich Foundation and the R. C. Smith Foundation.

The program is also made possible, in part, with public funds from the Decentralization Program, a regrant program of the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Kathy Hochul and the New York State Legislature, and administered by The Earlville Opera House.

If you are filling in your summer music schedule, don’t forget to include the 29th Norwich Rehab 

Chenango Blues Fest, to be held August 19 and 20 at the Chenango County Fairgrounds. Headlined by Blues Hall of Famer Jimmie Vaughan, this year’s festival features a star-studded roster of the best blues artists in the country.

Friday’s show is free and tickets for the Saturday show are available via the group’s website or by mail at Chenango Blues Fest tickets, 5 South Broad St., Norwich, NY 13815.

– Information from NBT Bank Summer Concert Series