Shane Adkins will perform at the Madison Gazebo Concert on July 24. (CONTRIBUTED)

MADISON – The Madison Gazebo Concert on July 24 will feature the people’s music of two very different countries and cultures.

Shane Adkins will open the concert at 6:30 p.m. at the gazebo on Front Street in the downtown historic district. Madison Arts Council schedules the summer concerts.

Adkins, an award-winning guitarist, has performed at the Ryman Auditorium, home of the Grand Ole Opry. This 2002 performance there inspired his CD, “Stomping Ground.”

His guitar technique uses ‘thumbpicking,’ or playing guitar with the thumb instead of fingers. In 2003, Adkins won the “Home of the Legends” Thumbpicking Contest in Muhlenberg County, Ky., along with topping the contenders at the Old Time Fiddler’s Convention in Athens.

In addition, Adkins was top-place instrumentalist in the 2005 International Fingerstyle Guitar Championship in Winfield, Kan.

Adkins and his wife Lisa have one son, Jim, and live in Hazel Green. He performs across the United States … and venues as distant as Gravelines, France. For more information, shaneadkins.com.

Maple Hill Celtic Band organized in 2003 among former members of GoodFortune, a local Ceilidh (or Gaelic party with storytelling). Their emphasis is Celtic and American traditional music.

Since 2004, Maple Hill has performed at more than 50 venues across North Alabama and South Tennessee. They play driving Celtic jigs and reels, contra dance music from the northern United States and Irish and Appalachian ballads.

Band members are Jennifer Allen Sloan, fiddle, low D-whistle; Mike Belmont, bass; Neil Boyd, guitar; Babette Ford, recorder; Tim Miller, mandolin, vocals; Andrea Rosler, flute, piccolo; Shawn Webster, percussion; Tony White, guitar, concertina; Steve Whitmore, fiddle; and Nancy Wills, fiddle. (maplehillband.com)

Brain Freeze Ice Cream and Sady’s Bistro will be onsite with refreshing treats. Jerry Damson Automotive has sponsored all of the Madison Gazebo Concerts in July.

For more information, visit artsmadison.org.