Maine Bluegrass Band to Play One Longfellow Square

Portland, Maine - The hot Maine-based bluegrass band, Erica Brown & the Bluegrass Connection, will perform at One Longfellow Square, 181 State Street, Portland, on Friday, February 1 at 8 pm. Tickets are $10 in advance and $15 at the door. The show is open to all ages.

Maine fiddle player Erica Brown is equally comfortable (and experienced)playing classical, bluegrass, and the Franco-American fiddle style for which Maine is known. At the age of seven, the Maine native was competing in fiddle contests with contestants twice her age. At age nine, she was traveling throughout New England, Canada, and Louisiana with the Maine French Fiddlers.

She has won numerous fiddle contests in New England as well as Canada and is the recipient of a 2006 Maine Arts Commission Traditional Arts Apprenticeship Award. Erica was recognized as a Master Artist of Traditional Fiddling by the Maine Arts Commission that same year. She brings a special energy and style to the Maine music scene and is on the teaching faculty of 317 Main Community Music Center in Yarmouth, ME. Portland audiences also know Erica as one of the cornerstones of "The Stowaways," the roots band that held a popular Monday night residency for many years at the Empire Dine and Dance in Portland.

Erica Brown & The Bluegrass Connection also includes Steve Roy (mandolin), Matt Shipman (guitar), Read McNamara (banjo), and Ken Taylor (bass).