HAMLET — Live music returns to the Seaboard City on Friday for the 2024 season of the Boxcar Concert Series.
Kicking off the third season is the Jonathan Robinson Band.
Robinson is a native of Hamlet, who returned to Richmond County after several years playing around Nashville. His bandmates are Joe Felice on bass and Rob Dufresne on drums and harmonica, both of whom contribute to backing and a few lead vocals.
The local guitarslinger and songwriter released his first EP in 2018. Click here to read more.
The band’s set list includes several of Robinson’s originals as well as classic rock and blues covers from the likes of Jimi Hendrix and the Allman Brothers Band.
This will be the band’s third performance in the Boxcar Concert Series.
Click here to see photos from 2023.
Director of Community Engagement Mechelle Preslar said another band was originally slated for the first show, but there was a scheduling conflict. However, the rest of the lineup remains the same.
2nd Chance Ministries makes their second appearance on May 24. Last year, the vocal group became the first gospel act to perform in the series.
The Beach Fever Band will make its first appearance in the Boxcar Concert Series on June 28. Eck and the Radio, featuring members from Randolph and Chatham counties, will make its second appearance in the series July 26 and has a set list including older country and rock hits.
Trip Rogers will be performing as a solo act in his first concert for the series on Aug. 23. Rogers has performed several times at Hamlet’s Seaboard Festival and played with a full band at Ellerbe’s Strawberry Festival and Ellerbe Springs Inn.
Richmond County’s newest (and youngest) band, Oero, will make their first appearance in the series on Sept. 27. The band, which formed after performing during the open-mic nights at Nana’s Coffee Rocks in Rockingham, includes singer and guitarist Sophia Razon, guitarist Logan Watts, drummer Anakin White and bassist Jason Singleton.
Richmond County native Erik Hawks, who was named Male Performer of the Year by the Carolina Country Music Association, will return to close out the season for the second consecutive year on Oct. 25.
Last year, Hawks, backed by the Hard Luck Band, performed at Rockingham’s SpringFest, Civil Wars at Rockingham Dragway, and in the Boxcar series, in addition to solo gigs at Hudson Brothers and the Seaboard Festival.
Hawks and Robinson both performed for SpringFest at the Rock last weekend.
This year, bands will be performing at a stage recently set up at the back of the park, instead of under the shelter as they have the previous two years.
The Boxcar Concert Series began with performances on Sunday, but the concerts were moved to Fridays to coincide with TGIFridays on Main, with several food trucks set up near the Depot.
The food truck lineup for this week is: Everything Rolled; Burger Bros; Mama Blairs; Tacos Mr. Pancho; and Minis on the Go.
The food trucks open at 11 a.m. and the band begins at 6 p.m.
