The American Bluegrass band from New York, The Dust Busters, with special guest, Betsy Plum of the group The Calamity Janes, is coming to Bulgaria at the end of August for a series of concerts at the Black Sea coast and in Sofia. 

At the special invitation of the US Embassy in Sofia, the Dust Busters will participate in the events and concerts of the Bourgas International Folklore Festival on August 26 and 27 and be showcased in the Apollonia Festival of the Arts in Sozopol on August 29. They will also perform a free public concert in Sofia at 6pm on August 31 at the summer stage in Borissova Gradina; the opening act will be Bulgaria’s own Lilly of the West.

The talented young artists of this trio that make up the Dust Busters – Walker Shepard, Craig Judelman and Eli Smith – are based in Brooklyn, New York.  The members first met at group concerts among stars like John Cohen of the New Lost City Ramblers and Peter Stampfel of the Holy Modal Rounders.

They play a variety of time-honored instruments such as banjo, manjo, banter, fiddle, jugs and spoons, and perform traditional American bluegrass and string music made popular in the US during the 1920s to 1940s. The artists claim that their music cannot be defined as falling into any certain category or genre. Perhaps it can be best described as more of a fusion of Scots-Irish and African music that took root in Appalachia, the western states and the deep south from the earliest colonial times through World War 2.