STANLEY - Cotton Wood, a bluegrass band from North Dakota, will appear Sunday, July 22, at the Sibyl Center in Stanley.
The band, based out of the Washburn area, performs at bluegrass festivals throughout the four-state region of North Dakota, South Dakota, Minnesota and Montana, is a feature act at the Missouri River Bluegrass Festival at Cross Ranch State Park.
Cotton Wood plays a variety of bluegrass, mixing lively, popular and country-flavored varieties. Band members include Dan Foster on mandolin, guitar and vocals; Keith Koch, guitar and vocals; Jill Wiese on bass, mandolin, guitar and vocals; and Lee Benjamin, banjo, dobro, guitar and vocals.
Cotton Wood has been together more than 10 years and has recorded three CDs. Besides the annual appearance at Cross Ranch, they put on the Blizzard Bluegrass Weekend at Bismarck State College each January. In conjunction with that event, they appear in schools, give away guitars and mandolins to school music departments, and hold "Learn a Bluegrass Song" sessions for young people.
The band will also participate in "Blue Grass Goes Pink," on Saturday, July 28, at Cross Ranch. The park will be "transformed" into a pink environment to promote Breast Cancer Awareness. The event is especially meaningful to Jill Wiese, whose sister died from cancer 10 years ago. Special Consensus will also appear.
Admission to the Sibyl Center show is by free will donation at the door of the center, located at 301-1st St. SW, in Stanley.
For more information about Cotton Wood, visit (www.cottonwoodbluegrass.com). For more about the Sibyl Center, go to (www.sibylcenter.org), or phone 628-3339.