WATERTOWN, N.Y. -- The concert isn't selling the way the DPAO would have hoped. I wrote my thoughts on that yesterday. It's tough, especially when the proceeds of these shows all go to a good cause.

The DPAO is hoping the announcement of the opening act could help boost interest.

The Waydown Wailers will take the stage Friday to get the crowd ready for Lady Antebellum.

The concert starts at 7. There are still plenty of tickets available. Information below.

Details from DPAO:

The CAR-FRESHNER / FX CAPRARA CHRYSLER 2016 Summer Concert Series presented by DPAO and WATERTOWN SAVINGS BANK announces that Waydown Wailers has been selected to be the opening act for Friday night’s Lady Antebellum concert.  The live outdoor event begins at 7 p.m. at the Watertown Fairgrounds.

Waydown Wailers is a band that is on top of the innovative music scene now pouring from a cool North American spigot.  Streaming like a refreshing blast of harmony over a burnout music wary countryside, The Waydown Wailers are boldly original, tunefully deep and forever lingering.

Another family affair, (a North American tradition) brothers Dave (guitar/lead vocals) and Christian Parker (lead guitar) have not played together in a band until this harmonious bug bit them and the rest of the tribe:  Michael Scriminger (drums/percussion) and Connor Pelkey (bass backing vocals) welded the circle complete.  Four guys carving individual niches into every nook and cranny of the North American music landscape and collectively producing a dazzling band even stronger than the sum of its harmonies.

Just groove to their music and you’ll instantly identify a unique resonance defined by rock-hard lyrics, great musicianship and hand-clapping, foot-stomping melodies.  Everything they create brands the consciousness.  Songs dissecting the discontented soul of a bitter land of liberty stand strong alongside ballads of aching hearts worn admirably on their sleeves.  This is the kind of band that begins as a smoldering local event and before you know it, rapidly transforms into a blazing national trend.

The Waydown Wailers is a band of dreamers that in-vision a sound that they personally want to inhabit, something that gets their hearts pumping before releasing it on a cover-beaten, musically famished public.  Dave Parker’s vocals are right on, crisp and oh so deliciously addictive.  It’s his signature phrasing that hooks you fast, keeps you transfixed and in the mix.  And oh what a mix it is with Mike Scriminger’s funk/rock drum flare to Connor Pelkey’s eccentric bass spouting funk and dare I say world beat slaps and pops while Christian Parker is another hot-lightening picker not afraid to add his eclectic style, it’s all to hell n’ back and truly defining the phrase “he’s got chops.”  These are some badass players, musicians that really love the art.

After performing with New Riders of the Purple Stage in Syracuse at Westcott Theater, Scruffy was talking to NRPS, who suggested contacting their label, Woodstock Records.  CD’s of live recordings were sent to Professor Louie.

Songs were picked and worked on from afar and it wasn’t until the first day of recording that Waydown Wailers and Prof Louie met face to face in the studio to work on the debut album, “State of The Union” (2013 Woodstock Records).

First released to radio March 2013 the album “Empty Promise” hit the RMR charts at # 7 and a single “Whiskey & Cornbread” at # 33.  The album is also charting on AMA and other international Country Charts.

“Empty Promises” and “State of The Union” albums can be purchased at woodsstockrecords.com, Amazon.com, iTunes, Rhapsody, eMusic, Google Music, streaming; iHeartRadio, Spotify, Xbox Music, YouTube and SoundCloud.

For more information on Waydown Wailers please visit their Web Site at waydownwailers.com.

Limited Reserved Tickets for DPAO’s Lady Antebellum concert are available for purchase by calling 782-0044.  General Admission Tickets are available for $68 each and may be purchased at your Local Kinney Drugs Store Locations, on-line at DPAO.ORG or in person at our offices located at 617 Davidson Street in Watertown.