Bluegrass and Americana Sundays with Mark Leadon

Despite evidence to the contrary, there wasn’t something in the drinking water that caused a host of nationally known musicians to emanate from Gainesville in the ’60s and ’70s. There was Tom Petty and the gang who became the Heartbreakers, of course, and Stephen Stills, who at one point played in a Gainesville band that also included future Eagle Don Felder. Two other players associated with each of those above groups, however – Tom Leadon, a charter member of Petty’s Mudcrutch then and now, and Bernie Leadon, who co-founded the Eagles after replacing Stills in that band with Felder – show the extent of just one Gainesville family’s gene pool of talent. And that’s what can be appreciated at Friday’s concert at the Bo Diddley Community Plaza. In what’s become an annual highlight of the Free Fridays concert series, The Leadon Family Band, which features Mark Leadon and Monica Leadon Cooper – the brother and sister of Bernie and Tom – will regale the crowd with the kind of country rock, acoustic and other sounds that made their siblings famous.

And they’ll do it in a performance that remains about as special as it gets for either of them, including the fact that it has become an increasingly rare opportunity for brother and sister to perform together.

Along with Cooper and Mark Leadon, who also co-produced the album, the concert will feature lead guitarist Jack Nettles and pedal-steel guitarist Jon Alexander along with new bassist Ron Thomas and drummer Mitch Jim. There also will be special appearances by Gainesville guitarist/fiddler Alan Stowell and Bob McPeak, who co-produced the album along with Mark Leadon.

Like some of the same styles of music the other Leadons are known for, the 12 originals on the new album fall loosely in the country rock category, Leadon says, though such instruments as banjo, dobro and mandolin show up from time to time – just as they’re bound to do at Friday’s concert.“I think more of our more-recent original music is geared toward country rock and a little bit of bluegrass because, on her new CD, we use banjo and dobro on several songs,” he says. “And there’s a fiddle, so we still have that bluegrass influence. And we do a few more bluesy rock songs with a little heavier electric guitar.”