***IMPORTANT NOTICE AS OF JUNE 7*** Due to illness, Lillie Mae will not be opening for Jim Lauderdale tomorrow evening at The Ripple Center. We hope to have her back later this year. Instead, Jim and his band will perform the entire concert. As such (and also due to travel) the concert will now begin at 7pm instead of the advertised 6pm. Thank you for understanding, and our apologies for any inconvenience.
Jim's back! With a full band!
Jim Lauderdale – winner of two Grammys (and nominated for 7), released 34 full-length albums, and has taken home the Americana Music Association’s coveted Wagonmaster Award – will grace Aitkin, MN once again - this time with a full band on The Ripple Center's opera house stage, Thursday, June 8th.
He’s been a vital part of the country music ecosystem since 1991 when he released his debut album and began penning songs for an impressively long roster of country music greats. “When I was a teenager wanting to be a bluegrass banjo player, I never would have imagined that I would get to work with people like Ralph Stanley, Robert Hunter, George Jones, Elvis Costello and John Oates. Getting to work with them inspires me greatly to this day, and I know it always will.” He's also penned hits for Patty Loveless, George Strait, Gary Allan, Mark Chestnut, Lee Ann Womack, the Dixie Chicks, Kathy Mattea, and Vince Gill. He's recorded with Dwight Yoakam, Lucinda Williams, and Rosie Flores, and toured with everyone from Freedy Johnston, Nick Lowe, and Hootie & the Blowfish to Johnny Cash and Merle Haggard. His forthcoming album Game Changer is convincing evidence that the North Carolina native is only continuing to hone his craft.
Lillie Mae is an American country and Americana singer, songwriter, fiddle and guitar player based out of Nashville, Tennessee. She started playing and performing live at the age of 3. She started playing guitar at age 4 and started playing fiddle at age 7. Lillie Mae and her family toured as a family band for many years. The family settled in Nashville, Tennessee in 2000. Her family began playing the local honky tonks (Laylas) with her siblings, Frank, Scarlett, Amber-Dawn and McKenna Grace, as Jypsi. Most of the siblings signed with Arista Records in 2007 and had two Top 40 singles on Hot Country Songs the next year "I Don't Love You Like That". Mae has appeared on all three of Jack White's solo records, as well as on The Raconteurs' 2019 album Help Us Stranger. She has also performed and/or toured with Dwight Yoakam, the Grammy-nominated Michael Kiwanuka, Dean Fertitta, and Robert Plant (Led Zepplin)
Doors open at 5pm.
Jim Lauderdale is a consummate entertainer, a sharp dressed man as well, a terrific songwriter and a great singer. – George Strait
He’s my favorite part of Americana music. – Ketch Secor, Old Crow Medicine Show
He’s a man of great style, an exceptional songwriter and tremendous singer. – Elvis Costello
Jim Lauderdale could easily be called a renaissance man. He’s a great singer, great guitar player and there’s no way you could miss his work as a songwriter. – Ricky Skaggs
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