Kyle Burnett band to play May 16 on town square

Ozark County native Kyle Burnett's award-winning bluegrass band, plus acclaimed fiddle player H. K. Silvey, will perform a free show at 7 p.m. Monday, May 16, on the Gainesville square. The show, sponsored by the Ozark County Historium and the Ozark County Times, will be held on the west side of the Gainesville square with the band performing in the gazebo on the courthouse lawn. Music lovers are invited to bring lawn chairs and settle in for a good time.
In case of inclement weather, the show will move to the First Christian Church on Highway 160 east of the square.
Earlier this year Burnett's band, Midwestern Town, won the 37th annual Preservation of Blue Grass Music in America international competition in Nashville. Twenty-four bands from the U.S. and other countries competed.
The band is composed of Kyle playing guitar, Eli Johnston from Branson on bass, Kevin McKinnon from Marion, Va., on mandolin, Jamie Harper of Crossville, Tenn. on fiddle and Jeremy Boling from Kansas City on banjo.
Burnett and Silvey, his grandfather, presented a free lunchtime music show in March to a standing-room-only crowd at the Historium and promised to come back as soon as possible. Midwestern Town will be playing at Silver Dollar City, near Branson, on May 16 and 17 during the amusement park's bluegrass music festival. The band members agreed to make a trip to Ozark County for the Monday evening show in Gainesville - and to visit Kyle's parents, David and Elaine Burnett, and brothers Justin and Lance. The Burnetts live in Longrun, near Silvey and his wife, Judy, and own Theodosia Hardware.
Kyle and his grandpa were profiled in the Jan. 26 edition of the Ozark County Times. Visit www.ozarkcountytimes.com to see video of them playing and singing in the Silveys' living room and at the Historium.
For more information about the May 16 program, contact Sue Ann Jones, 417-679-2452, sueann@ozarkcountytimes.com, or Janet Taber, 265-3372, janettaber@gmail.com.

Kyle Burnett and his grandfather, H.K. Silvey, play music in Silvey's home recently in this file photo. The two will perform at 7 p.m., Monday, May 16, on the Gainesville square.