MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — The Morgantown area will welcome a Grammy Award-winning Bluegrass legend to the city Wednesday night.
Tickets are on sale now for “An Evening with Tim O’Brien” at the Canady Creative Arts Center, Gladys G. Davis Theatre.
The Wheeling native has been performing internationally since 1978, has written country hit songs, and has had his material covered by artists like Garth Brooks, Nickel Creek, and The Dixie Chicks. The International Bluegrass Music Association (IBMA) awarded him Song of the Year in 2006 and named him Best Male Vocalist in 1993 and 2006. He was inducted into the West Virginia Music Hall of Fame in 2013 and, with the band Hot Rize, into the Colorado Music Hall of Fame in 2022 and the IBMA Hall of Fame in 2025.
O’Brien and wife Jan Fabricius will spend time with Chris Haddox, Associate Professor of Sustainable Design, and his students prior to the Morgantown show.
“I think they’re folk and bluegrass and old time music students,” O’Brien said. “We’re going to talk about how to put things together, how music evolves, how to listen to one another, and how to present a show.”
Some students, alumni, and faculty will participate in a portion of the show before Tim and Jan deliver their set. This show is one of the final performances before the pair kick off a European tour in the Czech Republic April 8.
“Jan and I are going to perform together with some of the students, and then we’ll do a show that will showcase what we do normally,” O’Brien said. “Jan and I write a lot of songs together, and we have a new recording called Paper Flowers that came out in June and we’ll do that and some of the old things.”
O’Brien developed his love for old time and bluegrass music after seeing Doc Watson on TV as a child. He has largely operated out of the mainstream but is considered a part of the fabric of the folk, bluegrass, and Americana scenes for the past fifty years.
“Music makes a community and brings people together,” O’Brien said. “We’re bringing the young musicians together with us and hopefully some new ears will be listening.”
Tickets are still available for the show Wednesday, April 1, at 7:30 in the Canady Creative Arts Center, Gladys G. Davis Theatre.
“I’m really looking forward to meeting some of these younger musicians and comparing notes, and maybe we can learn from one another,” O’Brien said.