New York State Office of General Services Commissioner Jeanette Moy today announced that American Music Association Lifetime Achievement Award winner Sam Bush will headline the 2022 Hops and Harvest Festival at the Empire State Plaza from 5 to 9 p.m. on Saturday, September 14.

“Bluegrass fans will not want to miss this year’s Hops and Harvest Festival at the Empire State Plaza, which will feature a free performance by the incomparable mandolin and fiddle player Sam Bush,” Commissioner Moy said. “In addition to amazing musical performances, the festival will showcase the highlights of upstate New York’s harvest season as well as tasty beers crafted by several of the most innovative breweries New York State has to offer.” 

In April, OGS announced it would be returning to a full lineup of festivals and concerts for the 2022 Summer at the Plaza season, which kicked off on Independence Day with New York State’s Fourth of July Celebration Presented by Price Chopper/Market 32.

Held for the first time in 2018, the Hops and Harvest Festival celebrates the best of what autumn has to offer in upstate New York, including great beers, food, and music.

This year’s festival will feature performances by headliner Sam Bush and special guests Gangstagrass and The North & South Dakotas

Sam Bush is considered an originator of American progressive bluegrass. As a teen, he was a three-time national champion in the junior division of the National Oldtime Fiddler’s Contest and later accepted an invitation to join the Bluegrass Alliance.

After leaving the Bluegrass Alliance in 1971, Bush formed the New Grass Revival. Shunned by some traditionalists, New Grass Revival played bluegrass fests slotted in late-night sets for the “long-hairs and hippies.” Quickly becoming a favorite of rock audiences, they garnered the attention of Leon Russell, one of the era’s most popular artists. Russell hired New Grass as his supporting act on a massive tour in 1973.

Bush was the newgrass commando, incorporating a variety of genres into the repertoire. He discovered a sibling similarity with the reggae rhythms of Bob Marley and The Wailers and, accordingly, developed an ear-turning original style of mandolin playing. The group issued five albums in their first seven years and in 1979, became Russell’s backing band.

A three-record contract with Capitol Records and a conscious turn to the country market took the Revival to new commercial heights. Bush survived a life-threatening bout with cancer and returned to the group that had become more popular than ever. They released chart-climbing singles, made videos, earned Grammy nominations, and, at their zenith, called it quits.

Bush worked the next five years with Emmylou Harris’ Nash Ramblers, then a stint with Lyle Lovett. He took home three-straight International Bluegrass Music Association Mandolin Player of the Year awards, 1990-92, (and a fourth in 2007). In 1995 he reunited with former New Grass Revival banjo player Bela Fleck, now a burgeoning superstar, and toured with the Flecktones, reigniting his penchant for improvisation.

Then, after a quarter-century of making music with New Grass Revival and collaborating with other bands, Sam Bush went solo.

He’s released seven albums and a live DVD over the past two decades. In 2009, the Americana Music Association awarded Bush the Lifetime Achievement Award for Instrumentalist.

Sponsors of the Hops and Harvest Festival include the Times Union, Albany Renaissance Hotel, DeCrescente Distributing, and PYX 106.

For event updates and additional information, visit empirestateplaza.ny.gov, @EmpireStatePlaza on Facebook, and @plazaevents on Twitter, or call (518) 474-4759.