Don’t Miss Your Last Chance to See Big Smith Perform

The Local Group Big Smith has made official their plans for a two final concerts in Springfield for spring 2012.  The shows will be titled “Goodbye, Farewell, and Amen.  Big Smith says Sayonara to Springfield” and are being presented by KTTS and will take place on Saturday May 5th and Sunday afternoon May 6th at the Historic Gillioz Theatre.  Saturday’s show will begin at 7:00 pm and Sunday’s matinee will begin at 3:00 pm with many special guests planned for both shows.

The ticket prices for Saturday night are $24.50, $22.50, and $18.50, with prices for Sunday’s show at $20.50 and $16.50  Tickets for both shows may be purchased at www.gillioz.org or by calling the Gillioz Theatre box office at (417) 863-9491 or in person beginning Friday, Dec. 16th at 12:00 PM central time.

These shows will be the last performances in Springfield, Missouri for the highly acclaimed local group who recently announced their retirement after 15 years of performing together.  They plan to have many special guests present for both shows who have had a special meaning to the group and with whom they have collaborated with throughout their career.

“The Gillioz Theatre and I feel honored that a group with the rich local history that Big Smith has established throughout 15 years of performing, has decided to bring their career to a close in a setting that is rich with music history and is perfect for an intimate experience for their fans.  It only reaffirms our belief that the Gillioz has firmly established itself as a venue for great events and these shows are a tribute to that.”  Dwight Glenn, President of Dwight Glenn Productions.

In addition, Peoples Bank of the Ozarks has agreed to become a partner with the event in the hopes of raising money for Ozarks Food Harvest.  A print copy of the promotional poster of the event will be available to all concert goers for a $1 donation which will be matched by Peoples Bank up to $1000. This means a total of $2000 could be raised to go directly to benefit Ozarks Food Harvest  to help feed food insecure families in the Ozarks.

Big Smith is a band from Springfield composed of five cousins: Mark and Jody Bilyeu, Bill and Rik Thomas, and Jay Williamson. Fiddle player Molly Healey brings the total to six creative individuals bound together by blood and harmony.

After coming together professionally in the fall of 1996, they quickly earned a devoted following playing raucous acoustic music that captured the spirit of their native Ozarks, equipped only with an acoustic guitar, mandolin, bass fiddle and washboard. These early gigs demonstrated to unsuspecting audiences what joy and liberation could be found in the raw mojo of indigenous, authentic Ozarks culture; albeit a culture interpreted through the eyes of modern, intellectually astute neo-hillbillies, if you will.

After imbibing various stylistic detours over the years, Big Smith has returned to their roots with its latest CD Kin. Not only does Kin mark a return to acoustic instrumentation, the band physically revisited the location of their first two albums, The Studio, Lou Whitney’s place in downtown Springfield, where the comfortable and familiar surroundings allowed them to perform nearly all of the songs live, with very few overdubs. Kin is not merely a nostalgic look over the shoulder, however, as the songwriters in the band continue to progress in their collective craft, fully on display over the course of these 15 songs.