Season four of The Central Park Sessions, the innovative concert series that has been a huge success in previous years, will have a bit of a different look to it this year.

There will be seven great nights of music in August this year at the Central Park Sessions. Equally as important, seven nonprofit agencies will partner and benefit in this endeavor. To provide financial stability and efficiency, the concerts will be configured in three Wednesday-Thursday pairs.

The seven nonprofit partners who will benefit from this summer’s Central Park Sessions are The River Alliance of Wisconsin; WORT-FM; The Stoughton Opera House Friends Association; Centro Hispano; The Urban League of Greater Madison; The Omega School (fiscal receiver) and The Literacy Network of Dane County. Common Wealth Development Corporation based on Williamson Street is serving as this year’s host agency.

The Wednesdays have been dubbed “The Sessions Select Concerts” and will feature an amazing band doing two sets with a talented local band opening. The Sessions Select Concert featured artists for this year are Marcia Ball (Austin) with special guest Cindy Cashdollar (August 2nd); The Travelin’ McCourys (Kentucky)(August 9th) and Jon Cleary (New Orleans) (August 16th ).

The Central Park Sessions
The Central Park Sessions

The Thursdays at The Central Park Sessions will still have two exciting traveling bands featured and a terrific local group opening unified under a loose thematic umbrella. There are four Sessions this year. The Shooting Stars Sessions (August 2nd) features Foxygen and Star Power and Samantha Fish; La Sesión Superior (August 9th ) features Latin Grammy Award winners El Septeto Santiaguero (Santiago, Cuba) and Latin Grammy nominees Centavrvs (Mexico City). The Ragin’ Cajun Session (August 16th) features Lost Bayou Ramblers and Sonny Landreth both from the Lafayette, Louisiana region in the heart of the Cajun Prairie. The Serendipitous Session (September 7th) features The Modern Sounds with Joel Paterson and Rockabilly star JD McPherson from Oklahoma and is our back-to- school stand alone special that finishes at 9:30 pm a half an hour earlier than the rest of The Sessions.

Every night there will be a wonderful array of dining options plus a fine beer, wine and cider selection. This is a free event and a fundraiser and patrons are requested to leave their coolers behind and pets should remain at home also. Event t-shirts and caps will be sold at the merchandise tent on the North side of the Great Lawn.

Central Park, 215 S Brearly St., is located on Madison’s near east side in the Marquette Neighborhood a block below Williamson Street.

This website, which was created by an Omega School volunteer, is a great resource for everything that is happening at the Central Park Sessions.
https://omegaschool.org/central-park-sessions/

The Central Park Sessions 2017

Session Select Concerts (Wed.)

August 2nd: Heartland Credit Union
5:30-6:45 p.m.: Mal O Dua
7:30-8:30 p.m.: Marcia Ball w/ special guest Cindy Cashdollar
9:00-10:00 p.m.: Marcia and Cindy (Set two)
To benefit The River Alliance of Wisconsin

August 9th: Stoughton Opera House Sponsor
5:30-6:45 p.m.:Cork and Bottle String Band
7:30 -8:30 p.m.: The Travelin’ McCourys
9:00-10:00 p.m.: The Travelin’ McCourys (Set two)
To benefit Stoughton Opera House Friends Association

Rob Dz
Rob Dz

August 16th: Lauer Real Estate Group Sponsor
5:30-6:45 p.m.: The Chicago Yestet
with Rob Dz
7:30-8:30 p.m.: Jon Cleary (New Orleans)
9:00-10:00 p.m.: Jon Cleary (Set two)
To benefit The Urban League of Greater Madison

Central Park Sessions (Thurs.)

August 3rd: Sponsor Willy St. Co-op Sponsor
The Shooting Stars Session
5:00 pm Beth Kille
6:30 pm Samantha Fish
8:30 pm Foxygen and Star Power
To benefit WORT- FM

August 10th: Dane Arts Sponsor
La Sesión Superior
5:00 p.m. Golpe Tierra
6:30 p.m. Centavrvs (Mexico City)
8:30 p.m. Septeto Santiaguero (Cuba)
To benefit Centro Hispano

Lost Bayou Ramblers
Lost Bayou Ramblers

August 17th: Lauer Real Estate Group Sponsor
The Ragin’ Cajun Session

5:00 p.m. John Moulder Organ Trio w/ Darren Sterud and Al Falaschi
6:30 p.m. Lost Bayou Ramblers
8:15 p.m. The Express Sessions Auction
8:30 p.m. Sonny Landreth
To benefit the Omega School

September 7th :
The Serendipitous Session

5:00 p.m. The Hometown Sweethearts (farewell tour)
6:00 p.m. The Handphibians 20th-anniversary show (offstage)
6:30 p.m. –The Modern Sounds w/ Joel Paterson
7:40 p.m. – Raffle Drawing
8:00- 9:30 pm–JD McPherson
To benefit the Literacy Network of Dane County