Local Band The Tallow Creek Boys Land Opening Slot at Regional Americana Festival

MILLBROOK, June 12 — Five years after forming in the back room of Sadler's Hardware Store on Elm Street, The Tallow Creek Boys are heading to the big stage. The Millbrook-based Americana quartet announced Wednesday that they've landed the coveted opening slot for the Piedmont Americana & Roots Festival in Harwick on July 20, a booking that puts them in front of an expected crowd of 8,000 music fans — by far the largest audience of their career.

A Band Built the Old-Fashioned Way

Frontman and guitarist Cal Britten said the call from festival organizers came as a genuine surprise. "We found out on a Tuesday morning and honestly I thought it was a prank," Britten told the Courier with a laugh. "We've been grinding at every roadhouse and county fair in a 90-mile radius for years, so this feels like something finally clicked." The band — rounded out by fiddle player Noelle Marsh, bassist Denny Okafor, and drummer Pete Szymanski — released their debut album Crooked River Road last October to warm local reviews and modest regional streaming numbers. Their song "Millbrook Waltz" became something of an unofficial anthem at last winter's First Friday events downtown.

The Tallow Creek Boys will play a 40-minute set beginning at 5:30 p.m. on the Piedmont Stage. Tickets to the full festival are available at piedmontroots.com starting at $45. The band also has a hometown warm-up show scheduled for July 12 at The Lantern Room on Canal Street — a free, all-ages event that Britten says is their way of saying thank you to Millbrook before they head out.