First Annual Pennsylvanial Cigar Box Guitar Festival

Event Description:

Get yourself a cigar box, jam a stick into it and nail a wire for a string... This is the legendary instrument of blues and folk legends, and now it’s in resurgence.


The First Annual Pennsylvania Cigar Box Guitar Festival will take place on Saturday, August 28th from 10am-5pm at the grounds of the York Emporium bookstore in downtown York, PA.


The event features five performing acts, including Purgatory Hill, a gothic blues duo featuring pAt mAcdonald, former lead singer of Timbuk 3.


Vendors will be selling handmade instruments, accessories and other musical items and a second stage will feature a revolving open-mic for other cigar box guitar performers. The concert takes place on the same weekend as the YorkFest art walk and is located just two blocks away from the art festival.


The PA Cigar Box Guitar Festival presents rock, folk and blues music in a MacGyver setting with artists who have built their own instruments from cigar boxes, sticks, hack-wired electronics and a deep do-it-yourself philosophy. “We’ve built our own guitars from things people have discarded,” says festival organizer, Shane Speal, “and we’ve found a deeper music in the process.” The music, sometimes called PrimRock (or primitive rock) is a mixture of folk, rock, blues and even jug band music. “There are no rules in building a cigar box guitar,” says Speal, “and there’s no rules to this music. We’re creating something fresh and exciting.”


The headliner of the event is Sturgeon Bay, WI duo, Purgatory Hill, an act that features pAt mAcdonald, former lead singer of Timbuk 3, the 80’s act that scored the hit, “The Future’s So Bright (I Gotta Wear Shades).” Purgatory Hill performs dark, swampy blues rock with a double-neck cigar box guitar. This is Purgatory Hill’s second visit to York after first performing at the First Capital Dispensing Co. on St. Patrick’s Day this year.


Other artists include:

• New Jersey singer/songwriter, Gerry Thompson (featured on several White Rose Community Access TV specials).

• Telford, PA musician, One String Willie, the master of the one-string diddley bow.

• New Jersey roots/blues band, April Mae and the June Bugs

• Chicago blues and folk singer, Stacy Puckett.

• Cincinnati punk blues duo, 7 Hills Stomp (featuring The Joker)


In addition to the Saturday concert, a pre-fest concert with Shane Speal and 7 Hills Stomp will be held at the First Capital Dispensing Co. in downtown York on Friday, August 27 at 10pm.


The PA Cigar Box Guitar Festival is the brainchild of York native (and self-proclaimed “King of the Cigar Box Guitar”), Shane Speal. Speal runs the top website for cigar box guitars, www.CigarBoxNation.com and is the central figure in the upcoming PBS documentary, Songs Inside the Box. The cigar box guitar is currently making resurgence with articles in Premier Guitar Magazine, Make Magazine, myriads of websites and the upcoming PBS documentary. Speal’s CigarBoxNation.com website currently has over 3,000 members worldwide.


If you want to know How to Make a Cigar Box Guitar this is the event!

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