Fairfield Theatre Company Weekly Round up: 4 shows announced, including Jason Carter Band

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Fairfield Theatre Company announced The CB Quintet Presents: A Jazz Tribute to Vince Guaraldi’s A Charlie Brown Christmas, Cory Branan, The Outlaws, and Jason Carter Band this week. Tickets are on sale now at fairfieldtheatre.org

The CB Quintet Presents: A Jazz Tribute to Vince Guaraldi’s A Charlie Brown Christmas
Fairfield Theatre Company • 70 Sanford St, Fairfield, CT 06824
December 10, 2026
Click here to purchase tickets

The CB Quintet Presents: A Jazz Tribute to Vince Guaraldi’s A Charlie Brown Christmas

A five-piece ensemble of acclaimed touring musicians bringing Vince Guaraldi’s timeless holiday soundtrack to life with jazz improvisation, cinematic arrangements and an unforgettable Christmas atmosphere. Featuring the full score (and more), the quintet puts its own spin on Guaraldi’s Christmas classics with extended improvisation and horn lines injected into the arrangements audiences know and love, featuring the Ocean Avenue Stompers brass band.

Originally launched as a 2023 residency in Asbury Park NJ, the show features its original core lineup of internationally touring musicians; Mark Masefield (piano), Cameron Lockwood (drums), Cody McCorry (upright bass), Ian Gray (trombone), and Joe Gullace (trumpet), while welcoming rotating guests from the region’s top bands, including musicians like Neal Pawley and Jeff Kazee (Southside Johnny & the Asbury Jukes). Adding a unique visual layer to the performance is a custom animation collaboration that pays tribute to the original Charlie Brown film. The screen comes to life with playful, ever-changing animations of the musicians on stage. This evolves throughout the set as new performers are featured, creating an immersive and nostalgic experience that blends live music with classic holiday imagery. The show includes joyful interpretations of Guaraldi’s iconic music, elevated by rich horn arrangements, extended improvisation and a playful collaborative spirit that’s perfect for all ages.

Cory Branan
Fairfield Theatre Company • 70 Sanford St, Fairfield, CT 06824
March 3, 2027
Click here to purchase tickets.

Cory Branan

Over the last two decades Cory Branan has released five albums to much critical acclaim from NPR, Pitchfork and Rolling Stone among others, who called him, “A country boy with a punk-rock heart.” He has toured extensively, appearing on stages from Letterman and the Ryman to your town’s shittiest punk bar.

“…a career stacked with lonesome country anthems to life on the road, delivered in a voice that’s pleasantly weathered.” – NPR

Branan’s songs have been covered by such artists as Tyler Childers, Frank Turner, and Dashboard Confessional. He has also collaborated with the likes of Jason Isbell, Laura Jane Grace (Against Me!), and Craig Finn (The Hold Steady) who have been included as featured guests on previous records. Branan has even been mentioned in the Lucero song, “Tears Don’t Matter Much” with the lyrics, “Cory Branan’s got an evil streak, and a way with words that’ll bring you to your knees.”

“It’s rad”, says Branan, “to have a new home with nice folks at Blue Èlan who’ve threatened to turn me loose to make my kind of weird American music, and I’m really looking forward to getting into the studio this fall and giving it hell.”

The Outlaws
Fairfield Theatre Company • 70 Sanford St, Fairfield, CT 06824
March 25, 2027
Click here to purchase tickets

The Outlaws

For The Outlaws, it’s always been about the music. For more than 40 years, the Southern Rock legends celebrated triumphs and endured tragedies to remain one of the most influential and best-loved bands of the genre. Today, The Outlaws have returned with new music, new focus, and an uncompromising new mission: It’s about a band of brothers bound together by history, harmony, and the road. It’s about a group that respects its own legacy while refusing to be defined by it’s past. But most of all, it’s about pride.

It’s About Pride was also the title of the band’s acclaimed 2012 album, universally hailed as their victorious comeback. “Because The Outlaws had been out of the public eye for so long, it was almost like starting over,” explains founding singer / songwriter / guitarist Henry Paul. “But because of the band’s history, we dig deeper, write better, perform stronger. Everything we do is to reinforce the notion that The Outlaws still matter, and that Southern Rock will always matter. It’s a message we’re proud to bring into the 21st century.”

History lesson: Formed in Tampa in 1972, The Outlaws – known for their triple-guitar rock attack and three-part country harmonies – became one of the first acts signed by Clive Davis (at the urging of Ronnie Van Zant) to his then-fledgling Arista Records. The band’s first three albums The Outlaws, Lady In Waiting, and Hurry Sundown – featuring such rock radio favorites as ‘There Goes Another Love Song,’ ‘Green Grass & High Tides,’ ‘Knoxville Girl,’ and ‘Freeborn Man’ – would become worldwide gold and platinum landmarks of the Southern Rock era. Known as ‘The Florida Guitar Army’ by their fans, The Outlaws earned a formidable reputation as an incendiary live act touring with friends The Allman Brothers, Lynyrd Skynyrd, The Marshall Tucker Band and The Charlie Daniels Band, as well as The Doobie Brothers, The Who, Eagles and The Rolling Stones. Henry Paul left after the group’s third album to form The Henry Paul Band for Atlantic Records, and later co-founded the multi-Platinum country trio BlackHawk. Over the next 20+ years, The Outlaws would experience rampant personnel changes, tonal missteps, ill-fated reunions, and bitter trademark battles that left fans, not to mention Paul, frustrated and saddened. And with the tragic deaths of co-founding members Frank O’Keefe and Billy Jones in 1995 and songwriter/vocalist/lead guitarist Hughie Thomasson in 2007, it was feared that The Outlaws’ trail had come to an end.

When Henry Paul took leadership of the band in 2008, he firmly put The Outlaws back on a path both trusted and celebrated by longtime fans. “Audiences discovered that The Outlaws have something to say that is as engaging as when we began,” says Paul, “which is why every night when we perform, we give nothing less than everything we’ve got.” Along with founding member Paul, the band features several of Southern Rock’s most respected players: Keyboardist/vocalist Dave Robbins is a co-founding member of BlackHawk and has written hits for artists that include Restless Heart, Kenny Rogers and Eric Clapton. Longtime bassist/vocalist Randy Threet has performed with Trisha Yearwood, Pam Tillis, and BlackHawk, and is familiar to audiences from USA Network’s ‘Nashville Star.’ Lead guitarist Jimmy Dormire has played to millions with Confederate Railroad, Colonel Bruce Hampton, and The Luke Wheeler Band on the TV series Nashville. Drummer Michael Grando – who replaces the band’s retired / beloved co-founder Monte Yoho – has powered the beat for artists that include Joe Diffie, Jason Aldean, and Chris Knight. Vocalist / co-guitarist Jeff Aulich brings new fire to the band’s harmony arrangements and six-string pyrotechnics. The Outlaws have not only re-emerged as what fans now call ‘Southern Rock’s Last Band Standing,’ but as a dedicated band of brothers who still write, play and perform with the skill, grit, and fire of acts a fraction of their age. “I want the fans to see the band’s growth and recognize the quality of the music,” Henry says. “We’re focused on where we come from, where we’re headed and how much fun we’re still having on the ride.”

Jason Carter Band
Fairfield Theatre Company • 70 Sanford St, Fairfield, CT 06824
March 31, 2027
Click here to purchase tickets

Jason Carter Band

In Lloyd, Kentucky, on U.S. 23, there’s a sign on the Country MusicHighway dedicated to renowned fiddler Jason Carter. It was placed therebecause of his other accomplishments—the Grammy awards, theworldwide tours, and the many other accolades he’s earned through hismusic. But for Carter, joining the legendary names honored on that stretchof highway just might mean the most. “There’s a certain sound that’s upthere that you just don’t hear anywhere else,” he says. “I think that played abig part in how I sound today.”

True to those Kentucky roots, Carter continues to pour all he has back intobluegrass. For thirty years, he has been the fiddle player for the DelMcCoury Band—the most awarded group in bluegrass history. He’s wonthree Grammy awards, including 2018’s “Best Bluegrass Album” with the Travelin’ McCourys, of which he is a founding member. And he’s taken home five IBMAs for “Fiddle Player of the Year,” a staggering number thatisn’t quite so crazy once you realize just how many bluegrass greats haveturned to Carter for collaboration.

As a fiddler, Carter has been featured on albums by Steve Earle, Ricky Skaggs, Dierks Bentley, Charlie Daniels, Vince Gill, Asleep at the Wheel,and many more, all in addition to his tireless touring and recording with Delas well as the Travelin’ McCourys. On Carter’s forthcoming solo album, Lowdown Hoedown, listeners may recognize instrumental contributions from such legends as Jerry Douglas or Sam Bush alongside vocals fromyoung trailblazers like Sarah Jarosz or Billy Strings. This time, though, Carter is singing lead.

The album’s namesake track, a good-time duet with longtime friend DierksBentley, plays on Carter’s dexterity on the fiddle with an flashy solo—whilealso showcasing his charisma as a frontman and vocalist. “Good Things Happen,” a Jamie Hartford number with vocal harmonies from Aoife O’Donovan, marks the kind of tender moment fit for a first dance or sweetserenade. But Lowdown Hoedown has its somber side, too.

“Dust Bowl Dream,” a wistful narrative about a depression-era farmer,builds on its slow pace and vivid lyrical imagery with powerful harmoniesfrom Sarah Jarosz and twin fiddles from Carter and fellow IBMA-winningfiddle player Bronwyn Keith-Hynes. The John Hartford tune “Six O’Clock Train” marks a slower, more ominous moment, calling in vocal harmonies and guitar from Billy Strings.

Scattered across the album, too, are hints of the influences that have shaped Carter’s sound throughout his life. A guitar player since childhood and a fiddler since 15 (the age when he swore that someday he’d play in the Del McCoury Band), Carter inherited his love for bluegrass from his father, a musician himself, and grew up playing at jams, festivals, and campgrounds across Kentucky. After he graduated high school, he took his talent as a fiddler on the road professionally: first with the Goins Brothers, then at 19 with the Del McCoury Band, and later with the Travelin’ McCourys.

In the decades since, he’s seen the bluegrass community evolve and expand. “The bluegrass fans, they’re pretty loyal,” he says, noting that he’s found a similar kinship sharing stages with jam bands like Phish and Leftover Salmon, too. “They stick behind you, they’re there for you.” Carter mirrors that loyalty with his own—loyalty to his craft, loyalty to the road, and loyalty to the career path he’s dreamt of since childhood. With Lowdown Hoedown, Carter shares the fruits of decades’ worth of on-the-road experience, spectacular musical sensibility, and genuine excitement for what bluegrass can be.

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October events at Fairfield Theatre Company

10/23 -Mean Girls Junior
10/23 – Mean Girls High School Version
10/24 – Mean Girls Junior
10/24 – Mean Girls High School Version
`10/24 – Los Lobos
10/25 – Mean Girls High School Version
10/25 – Mean Girls Junior
10/28 – Eva Ayllon
10/28 – Jon Lampley
10/29 – Terrapin Presents: Decades of The Dead
10/30 – FTC’s Halloween Bash
10/30 – Terrapin Presents: Decades of The Dead
10/31 – The Rock and Roll Playhouse

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October events at PeoplesBank Arena

10/23 – Providence Bruins vs Hartford Wolf Pack

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October events at Pratt & Whitney Stadium

10/23 – UConn vs UMass Amherst

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Fairfield Theatre Company Weekly Round up: 4 shows announced, including Jason Carter Band