Ward Hayden & The Outliers
Saturday, May 16, 2026
at Elks Lodge 213
with special Guest Dan Blakeslee
Saturday, May 16
Doors 7:00 PM / Showtime 8:00 PM
All Ages
Artist websites:
Ward Hayden & The Outliers
KNOW BEFORE YOU GO:
All tickets are general admission. Tickets are will call only (no physical tickets) and nonrefundable. Seating is limited and available on a first come, first-served basis.
Boston is one of America’s great music towns. But among the various styles the city is known for that have launched many musical acts to success and stardom, country music wasn’t a truly thriving genre there until singer, songwriter, and guitarist Ward Hayden and his band The Outliers sang and played their distinctive take on Country & Western with a rock ’n’ roll kick to the top of the Boston scene and a thriving, critically-acclaimed and highly-awarded career across America and in Europe.
Over the course of nine albums and playing some 200 shows a year for most of the last two decades, his band became leading lights for contemporary country that integrates the music’s finest traditions into a sound Cincinnati City Beat hails as “incredibly endearing.” They’ve won seven Boston Music Awards (including Act of the Year), “Country Act” and “Performer of the Year” at the 2025 New England Music Awards, the French Country Music Awards crowned them the Independent Artist of the Year, plus an Americana Music Awards nomination for Artist of the Year. As well, they are a regular presence on the Americana chart and SiriusXM’s Outlaw Country channel.
With a suitcase of songs, Maine folk troubadour Dan Blakeslee ventured into the subways of Boston in 1995 to practice his craft. He has been making music and art throughout New England ever since, leading him to tour the U.S. performing with Langhorne Slim, The Low Anthem, David Wax Museum, Lydia Loveless, The Lumineers, Old 97′s, Brown Bird, Josh Ritter, Death Vessel and Kimya Dawson among others.
In 2015 his dream of playing Newport Folk Festival became a reality, where Bob Dylan went electric 50 years earlier. Blakeslee’s band The Calabash Club formed in 2008 and released their third album together “Christmasland Jubilee” a rollicking, jubilant Christmas album on December 1, 2020. Blakeslee is unafraid to bare his very soul on stage, emptying a loaded cache of emotion and passion onto the stage for all to witness, explore and devour.
