Next Stage Arts and Twilight Music present Nashville-based bluegrass quintet Liam Purcell & Cane Mill Road and Vermont singer-songwriter Diane Zeigler on Sunday, September 20, at 7:00 p.m. at Next Stage Arts, 15 Kimball Hill in Putney. Zeigler will be joined by bassist Geoffrey Sather and special guests Bruce and Barry Stockwell.
Described by No Depression as “the future of bluegrass,” Liam Purcell & Cane Mill Road combine deep Appalachian roots with contemporary musicianship and innovation. Purcell, a North Carolina native, grew up in Deep Gap less than a mile from the home of legendary guitarist Doc Watson and was immersed in old-time and bluegrass music from an early age.
Purcell later attended Berklee College of Music, joining a lineage of American Roots Program alumni that includes Molly Tuttle, Sierra Hull, Crooked Still, and members of the Infamous Stringdusters. In 2022, he made history at Colorado’s RockyGrass Instrumental Championships by taking first place on mandolin, banjo, and guitar, becoming the only musician to win multiple championships in the same year.
After earning a degree in String Performance from Berklee in 2024, Purcell embarked on an intensive touring schedule and is now based in Nashville. Through Cane Mill Road, he continues to draw on the traditions of his Appalachian upbringing while introducing those sounds to new audiences.
Also appearing is Vermont singer-songwriter Diane Zeigler, a winner of eight national songwriting awards whose crystalline vocals and open-tuning guitar work helped establish her as a distinctive voice in the New England folk scene.
Zeigler emerged from the Boston folk community in the early 1990s, releasing her critically acclaimed debut album on Rounder Records in 1995. Three subsequent independent albums each reached No. 1 on national folk radio playlists. After the birth of her third child in 2006, Zeigler stepped away from music.
Earlier this year, with her youngest child entering college, Zeigler began writing again and is now working on a new album while returning to regional performance. For the Putney concert, she will be joined by her husband, bassist Geoffrey Sather, formerly of Brattleboro, along with Bruce and Barry Stockwell of the Stockwell Brothers.
Doors open at 6:15 p.m. and the concert begins at 7:00 p.m. Tickets are $22 in advance, $26 at the door, and $10 for the livestream. Tickets and additional information are available at nextstagearts.org.