MEDIA - AO2012-11

The Abita Springs Opry is a series of music concerts held six times a year and is produced by a nonprofit organization, Abita Opry Inc. The show has the mission of preserving and presenting Louisiana "Roots" music. Our music is played primarily acoustically, in its original form.

Our main thrust is old-time Country, Bluegrass, and traditional Southern Gospel music, but we often present other forms of traditional Louisiana music such as Cajun, Zydeco, Irish, or other types that reflect the many different groups of people who are part of our diverse culture.

Pot Luck String Band
Our house band offers a very traditional mix of bluegrass and old-style country music. The group’s leader, Van Glynn is a very talented multi-instrumentalist who is also knowledgeable about the origin of the songs and the musicians who originally performed them. The group is rounded out by vocalist-guitarists Steve Buckholtz and Mike Myhal. Barbara Ayme on banjo and vocals and David Talmadge on bass and vocals complete the group.

Cori Walters and the New Orleans Dixieland Jazz Band
We are excited about this group that will finish up the Opry spring season and put an exclamation point on it. Brass band music has always been an integral part of the New Orleans music scene, and is an incubator for New Orleans’ most significant contribution to the world of music, jazz. Many of the jazz greats like Buddy Bolden, considered the father of jazz, and the incomparable Louis Armstrong played music on the streets in funeral and second-line brass bands. We have wanted this at the Opry for some time, and it will be a fitting conclusion for the season.

Sunpie Barnes
Sunpie Barnes is a former College All American and Professional Football Player and his current day job is as a ranger and naturalist at Jean Lafitte National Park. But what brings Sunpie Barnes to our stage is his tremendous talent on the piano accordion.

A true Renaissance Man - Sunpie has traveled to over 35 countries playing his own style of blues, zydeco, Afro-Caribbean, and Afro-Louisiana music. In addition to being a musician, Sunpie has acted in several feature length films including Point of No Return, Under Cover Blues, The Gates of Silence, The Big Easy series, and several more.

Zion Harmonizers
The Zion Harmonizers trace their origins to 1939 and feature an uncommonly resilient tradition of harmony - beautiful, spirit lifting, four-part harmony. That is why it is such a pleasure to discover a group like the Zion Harmonizers. True to their name, they still harmonize, and they still cling to the optimistic notion that harmony in song can bring out harmony in mankind.
Their arrangements of familiar hymns like "When the Saints Go Marching In" and " Down By The Riverside" are thoroughly original and up-to-date. But, they never forsake their harmony for form or fashion, and their musical accompaniment, though very exciting, is never overbearing.