The Kentucky Mountain Laurel Festival is coming up in Pineville this Memorial Day weekend and the festival has announced that Grammy award winning country band Shenandoah will be the featured performer at the opening concert on Thursday, May 22.

Opening for Shenandoah at the KMLF will be Bell County native and up-and-coming country/bluegrass singer/songwriter Tim Goodin with his band The Blue Gems.

Marty Raybon and Mike McGuire formed Shenandoah in 1984 in Muscle Shoals, Alabama, with bassist Ralph Ezell, keyboardist Stan Thorn and guitarist Jim Seales. Shenandoah inked a deal with Columbia Records and began establishing a national fan base with their self-titled debut in 1987. However, it was the band’s sophomore effort, The Road Not Taken, that spawned their first top ten hits, “She Doesn’t Cry Anymore” and “Mama Knows.”

The group followed with three consecutive No. 1 hits, “Church on Cumberland Road,” “Sunday in the South” and “Two Dozen Roses.” “The Church on Cumberland Road” spent two weeks at the top of the chart and made country music history as it marked the first time that a country band’s first No. 1 single spent more than one week at the summit.

Shenandoah became known for delivering songs that celebrated the importance of faith and family while reveling in the joys of small-town life. “Next to You, Next to Me” topped the charts for three weeks and “Somewhere in the Vicinity of the Heart,” a beautiful duet with Alison Krauss, won a Country Music Association Award for Vocal Event of the year and a Grammy for Best Country Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal. Shenandoah also won the Academy of Country Music’s Vocal Group of the Year in 1991.

The group currently consists of original members Marty Raybon (lead), Mike McGuire (drums) along with Paul Sanders (bass), Donnie Allen (acoustic guitar/fiddle), Andrew Ishee (keys) and Nicky V. Hines (guitar).

For more information, visit shenandoahband.com