Abita Opry Media

MEDIA - AO2026-04

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.

Bad Penny Pleasure Makers: Matt Bell and his wife and musical partner, Joy Patterson have been performing together for some time. We first heard them on our stage as members of The Wasted lives, a country band. They have performed at the Opry many times in different formats. When we needed another house band, booking them was an easy decision. Matt is a highly sought-after musician and has appeared here with various other groups. Like our other house bands, they set the bar for the acts that follow.

The Get Along Gang: They adopted that name because they get along very well as a group, something that is not always true for a band. The members have been on our stage in other groups performing traditional music and appeared as this group previously. We heard them recently at a local market and noticed a new vocalist who added a lot to the band. We look forward to their performance in the current configuration.

James McClaskey and his Rhythm Band: They appeared at the Abita Springs Busker Festival a couple of years ago and will appear there again this year. This will be their first time at the Opry. They are gifted musicians and perform a variety of musical styles They said they will perform traditional Rhythm and Blues at this performance. That is one of my favorite music styles and I am anticipating hearing them.

Sunny Side Jazz Band: this is the first trip to the Opry for this group. They performed at the Abita Springs Busker festival I the past and have a very entertaining style of traditional Jazz. We welcome them to the Opry and looking forward to hearing them.