The stage is located at the intersection of Main and Washington Streets, in front of the old Courthouse.
SJ McDonald
SJ McDonald's sound reflects that of a hard-working farmer's daughter who lives and breathes country music—because that’s who she is.
Born and raised in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia, SJ developed her tenacity and dedication working on her family’s 5-generation cattle and turkey farm. Along with callused hands, she found her adoration for country music, loving the legends of the 90s and 2000s country eras. SJ started writing and performing at just 9 years old, leading her own band throughout high school, and found her way to Nashville at 18. She landed weekly slots on Lower Broadway playing for tips, where she spent 6 years cutting her teeth and honing in her style of performing—which can only be described as high energy, infectious, and country to the core.
Alongside her own independent artist journey, which has taken her along a self-booked coast-to-coast tour throughout the summer of 2023, SJ recently furthered her career as a songwriter, signing a publishing deal with Major Bob Music.
SJ is a force to be reckoned with on every stage she steps her broken-in-boots on. After a successful 2023 of independently releasing music, and being the May 2024 CMT: Next Up Now artist pick, SJ is gearing up to get back into the studio to work on the release of her next project. Until then, she'll be serving up some down-home country music to crowds across the country.
Read more about SJ…
SJ McDonald: Rockbridge County native, songwriter pursuing her country-music dreams
Will Reid
It was easy to become so engrossed by music growing up in the Reid household. As a child, Will would spend hours watching, listening, and singing along as his dad would jam with his bluegrass band. From an early age, Will was influenced by music from artists such as J. D. Crowe, The Country Gentlemen, and Doyle Lawson to name only a few. When not indulging in bluegrass music, Will would yield his attention to classic country artists such as Vern Gosdin, Charlie Pride, and Conway Twitty. Old vinyl was readily available in the Reid home.
The love of old-style music would follow Will throughout his school years to his senior year where he would start a bluegrass entourage of his own. Every weekend you could find Will playing alongside his band at some cakewalk, carnival, or church. It wasn’t until a year or so after the dispersal of the band, that Will started taking on local solo and duet shows; playing all of those old grass and country songs, a few 90’s country songs and an original or two.
Shortly after high school, Reid started a job as a lineman at a local power company. Balancing full-time blue collar work and music became second nature as he held a deep love for both. Fast forward to 2020, Reid was invited to Nashville to record some of his original music with Jordash Records. His first single “Albuquerque,” an original, went on to clear the top 50 of the “Music Row Breakout” radio chart.
Reid has been invited to sing the national anthem on many stages, including the Bridgestone Arena in Nashville for the opening ceremony of the PBR Team Series Rodeo event in the summer of 2023. He has also opened for artists such as Josh Turner, and Crawford & Power. He continues to play shows around the country at bars, honky tonks, fairs, and conventions. Reid has received the highest amount of support from his family in the linework industry and continues to travel, providing music and one-on-one storys about years of linework at conventions, meetings, and conferences for electric companies all over the country.
Love Canon
LOVE CANON brings their acoustic-roots sensibilities to the electronic-tinged pop hits of the 80’s and 90’s to create Cover Story, their 4th album, Organic Records July 13, 2018.
With Cover Story, LOVE CANON delivers a fresh set of classics, crossing genres to recount music of decades past from the likes of Peter Gabriel, Billy Joel, Depeche Mode, and Paul Simon. The self-produced album features a plethora of special guests including Jerry Douglas, Aoife O’Donovan, Keller Williams, Michael Cleveland, and Eric Krasno, among others.
The band’s diehard fans are music lovers first and are drawn to the charismatic and wide-ranging vocal stylings of lead singer and guitarist Jesse Harper matched with banjo master Adam Larrabee, mandolin pickin’ by Andy Thacker, Darrell Muller holding down the low-end on standup bass, and the slick sounds of resonator guitar king Jay Starling on the Beard MA-6. It’s acoustic rock! Acclaimed fiddler Alex Hargreaves [Turtle Island Quartet, Sarah Jarosz] does all of the fiddling on this record with the exception of two tracks, and he occasionally joins them on tour.
As seasoned virtuoso string players who have been touring the mid-Atlantic since 2010, LOVE CANON stays true to the approach, arrangements, and keen artistry of these nostalgic hits. Cover Story was engineered by Rob Evans at Dave Matthews Band’s Haunted Hollow Studio in LOVE CANON’s hometown of Charlottesville, Virginia and mixed by Wayne Pooley, Bruce Hornsby’s Engineer/Producer. Cover Story is a follow up to the band’s previous efforts, Greatest Hits Volumes 1-3.
The songs in Cover Story become a vehicle for the band to demonstrate their prowess in translating the original pop production compositions into the modern-day acoustic music framework to achieve a new and different, but satisfyingly similar, sonic effect.