To break up the monotonous and hectic schedule of students, 7220 Entertainment is bringing country and bluegrass artist Billy Strings to the University of Wyoming Gardens tonight at 8 p.m.
“He has actually grown really big in the bluegrass genre,” Vanessa Marie Alvarez, club events coordinator at 7220 Entertainment, said. “So, now that we can book him we thought it would be a good idea.”
7220 Entertainment is trying to bring a mixture of genres to the students on campus. Earlier in the school year, they brought EDM artists, a soul and funk band, country for a large-scale event and more. This time 7220 decided to showcase the bluegrass genre to give students a different form of music.
“So, we like to mix up the type of music genres, so we can bring that to campus,” Alvarez said. “We are trying to bring music that different types of people enjoy.”
Bluegrass is a unique combination of art as it includes both country music and jazz as its parent genres.
“For me, bluegrass is a unique form of art,” UW music student Cynthia Stewart said. “It truly defines America but also has some cultural roots to Irish, England and some other countries.”
According to UW Event News, Billy Strings, whose birth name is William Apostol, is a growing bluegrass artist and has won many awards. In 2016, he won the International Bluegrass Music Association’s Momentum Award for Instrumentalist of the Year for the instruments mandolin, banjo and guitar. Along with it, he was voted number one in the Bluegrass Situation’s Top 16 of 2016. Strings has also performed with various popular bluegrass artists such as Del McCoury, David Grisman and Larry Keel.
“We listen to different bands, different artists and then we decide which one we should bring on campus,” Alvarez said.
With the combined efforts of all the members of 7220, they decided to bring Billy Strings this time. All the events from 7220 Entertainment are paid through student fees, which is one of the main reasons why many are free and easily accessible to students.
“For 7220, all the events are free except for the large-scale event so we want to make it accessible to all the students if students cannot go to the large-scale events they can go to the small-scale ones like some of our free events in the gardens,” Alvarez said.
Along with it, students have a great chance to win various prizes at 7220 events through Cowboy Check-in. When entering the event, one must scan their student ID at the door or give the organizers their UW student ID number. This enters the student in a drawing for prizes, including possible cash prizes up to $1000. This year’s draw result will be announced in late April or early May.
“I am excited for this event,” UW junior Alex William said. “It is on Wednesday, the middle of the week and the most important thing is that it is free.”
