SPRING 2025 SCHEDULE
Our performances are always on the third Saturdays in the Spring and Fall in the months of March, April, and May, September, October, November. The show is from 7:00 PM until 9:00 PM.
March 15, 2025
Steve Anderson Band. Steve and his great backup band always start up every Opry season. He and his band are our longest-lasting house band. Steve seems to know every “honky tonk” country song ever recorded. His rich voice and stage presence are audience pleasers. He is backed up and joined by his partner vocalist, Jan Biggs.
Boston Street Ceilidh Band: Ceilidh (pronounced kay-lee) is a Celtic word for a music gathering and party. Since St. Patrick’s Day is two days following the show, we thought it would be nice to have a group that performs Celtic music. This band is comprised of local musicians who love performing traditional Irish music.
Steven Gill and his jug Band: It has been a while since we had a Jug Band perform on our stage. This group is new to the Opry. jug band music is catchy, bluesey, upbeat music called jug band music because traditionally a buy blowing into a jug provided the bass sound that put the “bottom” in the sound. Nowadays the jug, in most cases, has been replaced by the bass fiddle. Jug band music is fun to hear and is an audience pleaser.
The Abita Stumps: This is an Abita Springs based group that has been playing at various events locally for many years. The lead guitar player is Dalton Lambert who is the group’s leader whose sons have joined the group over the past few years to add horns. They round out the group beautifully and have their own group, Brass Unlimited, that will perform at the Busker Festival on March 30.
April 19, 2025
Bad Penny Pleasure Makers: This is our newest house band. Matt Ball and his wife, Joy Patteson, are the nucleus of the group. Matt and Joy have been at the Opry performing together or with other groups. Matt is a very talented and highly sought-after performer for other groups in New Orleans. Joy offers vocals and rhythm oh the rub board. They perform various forms of music and wait to hear what they will bring to this show.
Charles Richards Movement: That’s an unusual name for a band, especially since Charles Richards is a fictional character that these guys thought up. They have been here previously, and they have continued to improve as performers in the local area. The bend leader, Sam Giberga plans on paying tribute to his favorite songwriter and performer, the very talented John Prine.
Bogue Chitto: That is the name for a local river and a popular state park in Washington Parish and now is also the name of a band. This is a New Orleans based group that performs a variety of musical styles. They are very good songwriters and play traditional styles. We are looking forward to hearing them and welcome them to the Opry.
Sunpie Barnes and the Louisiana Sunspots: Bruce ‘Sunpie” Barnes is a very talented musician, former professional football player, teacher, park ranger who cane here from his original home in the Arkansas delta learned to play Zydeco, how to sing in Louisiana French as well as the blues. Bruce is an Opry regular, and he said he would bring both Zydeco and Blues in this set.
May 17, 2025
The Spring Chickens: If you like bluegrass, you will love hearing this group. They perform traditional Bluegrass music. The band leader is Cody Smith whose self-effacing manner belies his remarkable musical talent. He is a multi-instrumentalist who will lead on the banjo, a primary instrument in Bluegrass groups. Cody has assembled a very fine group of energetic local musicians, and they will entertain you.
Parker Freeman: Parker is a very well-known musician in this area. He is very versatile and performs various styles. For this show, he will bring himself and another musician and plans to perform a combination of Jazz/Folk music. We are happy to welcome this newcomer to the Opry stage.
KASS: The leader of this group, Cassie Krebs will bring her assembly of friends to our stage to perform Louisiana-themed numbers interspersed with a couple of originals. Cassie is another local musician who has a great singing voice and has performed professionally in this general area and is very versatile at performing in a variety of genres skillfully.
Swing Sept: That’s not an abbreviation for September, is the French word for the number seven as was explained to me by the group’s leader, Cole Aiken. That name describes the number of musicians in the band. Having heard this group’s music on videos, it can best be described as swing music in traditional jazz mode. This promises to be an entertaining set that will close out our spring season.
WE LOOK FORWARD TO SEEING YOU
We hope you will come and be part of the Abita Springs Opry experience. To sit and hear great traditional styles of music drawn from our diverse and wonderful musical heritage is more than a treat. Don’t forget, we always have great food available. Gumbo, hot dogs, homemade baked treats, and beverages prepared by local charitable organization provide great lagniappe.
The hundred-plus year old Abita Town Hall is the perfect setting for our show. The wooden building provides a warm and fitting venue for the music heard there. It also provides great acoustics, and our production crew headed by Kent Birkle assisted by Rob Bentley, Kenny Delbert, and Monique Coincoin do an outstanding job of filling the hall with perfect sound.
We believe this is another season of great traditional music. Please remember that we sell tickets on a first-come-first served basis. All seats are $20.00. We have not raised our prices for several years, and have no plans to do so any time soon. To purchase tickets call Kathy at 504-214-7777.
Y'all Come! See you at the Opry!
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 LISTEN TO PAST PERFORMANCES
Hello Abita Springs Opry fans. Its time for a new season. We hope you are all well and ready for some of the great traditional music that Opry fans love. We will, once again, gather at our historic old Town Hall to see old friends, get something good to eat, and spend two hours enjoying live music performed by some gifted musicians who are keeping our traditional music alive.
That is the mission of the Abita Springs Opry: “The preservation and presentation of Louisiana roots music.” Since 2002, we have been working to fulfil that mission. We have been blessed to have some of the finest musicians in our state perform on stage, and we will continue in that tradition this spring season.
Admission to the Opry. There is a mistaken belief among fans that seats are not available unless tickets are purchased in advance. That is not the case. We do not turn folks away because of lack of seats. If you show up the night of the show, there will be seats available. However, please keep in mind that sales are first-come-first-served. That means the season ticket holders and advance sales will get a better choice of seats. There are no bad seats at the Opry. Everyone has a clear view of the stage but buying tickets in advance will offer you a choice of seats.
Our “Ticket Lady, Kathy Armand is reporting that early sales are brisk. Get the “good seats” by contacting her at 504-214-7777.
Food at the Opry. Part of the Opry experience for many of our fans is to get something to eat at the show. Many folks come early to get something to eat like gumbo, hot dogs, homemade baked goods and beverages provided by local charitable groups including the FFA alumni association, the St Peter’s Church Men’s Club, the Abita Springs Women’s’ Society, and Abita Springs Friends of the Park. The food is good and very affordable. All the proceeds go to the charitable group providing the eats.
Post-show Jam Session. Following the show at the Town Hall, the musicians who perform and some of our house musicians gather to enjoy playing informally with one another. The jam session take place at the Abita Brew Pub, one of our sponsors. These jams can be a very rewarding experience for the musicians and audience, because to blending of different talented musicians from different groups. We have heard some great music there. We are grateful to the owner, Mr. Anthony Essiad for providing the space and having food available for the musicians.
The Zion Harmonizers
OUR MISSION
Our mission to "Preserve and Present Louisiana Roots Music" is taken seriously. Making the Abita Springs Opry available to as many people as possible is a way of fulfilling our mission and gives that much more exposure to these great musicians. We have a valuable musical cultural tradition, and it is worth keeping alive.
ACCESS THE OPRY ANYTIME ONLINE
We always want to remind our fans that most of our past performances are online and can be enjoyed anytime on your computer or smart device. All you have to do is visit our home page at www.abitaopry.org. Locate the words:
"LISTEN TO PAST PERFORMANCES"
click on it and the listing of downloaded shows will appear on your screen. From there, you can scroll to any show or pick out any particular act that may appeal to you and enjoy.
We provide the web service and cover the cost of video taping and provide the shows to St Tammany Parish Government access TV channel 10 and Southeastern Louisiana University, channel 18. The channels mentioned are available to Charter Cable TV subscribers in several surrounding parishes.
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