By Rick Zeigler—
MUNCIE, IN—Acclaimed bluegrass group Joe Mullins & the Radio Ramblers will be performing in a FREE outdoor concert as part of the 2024 Muncie Three Trails Music Series. The concert will take place at 7:00 PM on Saturday, August 10th at Canan Commons (500 S. Walnut St.) in the heart of downtown Muncie, IN. My Brother’s Keeper from Cincinnati will open the show.
Joe Mullins began to recognize the power of music to bridge traditions and create new communities while listening to his father Paul “Moon” Mullins, a radio broadcaster and accomplished fiddle player from Kentucky. Like so many, the Mullins family found themselves in the Dayton/Cincinnati area as a result of the great Appalachian out-migration from coalfields to industrial urban centers.
Mullins witnessed how his father’s daily country and bluegrass radio show comforted those far from home and it was then he knew he wanted to perform traditional Appalachian music. As a performer, Mullins quickly established himself as a strong traditional banjo player and lead vocalist, and in 2006 Mullins founded the Radio Ramblers. Under his leadership, the Radio Ramblers debuted on the Grand Ole Opry on July 27th, 2013, a mere 7 years after their first performance.
Mullins’ music is best described as authentic bluegrass, marked by consistently clean harmonies, Joe’s driving Scruggs-style banjo playing, and his band’s entertaining showmanship. Mullins has recorded over 22 albums and had eleven #1 songs, and has received over a dozen awards, including Banjo Player of the Year in 2023 from the Society for the Preservation of Bluegrass Music Association (SPGMA), as well as the IBMA’s 2019 award for Entertainer of the Year (with the Radio Ramblers), the highest award a band can earn within the genre.
Other notable honors include IBMA’s Song of the Year in 2018 for “If I’d Have Wrote That Song,” as well as IBMA’s Gospel Recorded Performance of the Year in both 2016 and 2017.
In addition to band leader duties, Joe Mullins is an award-winning radio broadcaster who can be heard daily across the globe via Real Roots Radio, and is also host of the syndicated radio program Front Porch Fellowship currently on over 200 radio stations worldwide. His family’s twice-annual event, the Industrial Strength Bluegrass Festival, won IBMA’s Event of the Year in 2022.
The Muncie Three Trails Music Series is a non-profit partnership between Muncie Downtown Development Partnership, Muncie Arts and Culture Council, and Rick Zeigler, series founder and organizer. The mission of the series is to bring critically acclaimed, national recording artists to perform at Canan Commons, Muncie’s premier outdoor performance venue, located at 600 S. Walnut Street in downtown Muncie.
A second mission is to promote the many recreational, artistic, and cultural attractions located along, or in close proximity to, Canan Commons and Muncie’s popular “Three Trails” — The White River Greenway, Cardinal Greenway, and Muncie Arts and Culture Trail. We hope attendees will heed our slogan, “Explore the Trails, Enjoy the Music.”
Big thanks to Ball State University for sponsoring the entire 2024 series.
Complete information about the Muncie Three Trails Music Series can be found at www.munciethreetrails.com.
