Trampled by Turtles is not new to St. Louis.They’ve played playing stages as small as The Gramophone and have worked their way up to the Duck Room, Old Rock House, and now The Pageant. They’ve earned a loyal fan base here our in city by consistently putting on energetically solid shows driven by Ryan Young’s fiddle and Erik Berry’s mandolin. Lining up straight across the stage, this five piece can take their bluegrass roots to breakneck speeds and break your heart with lonesome lyrics in the span of seven minutes.

Opening the show is Honeyhoney, who may be new to many in St. Louis. Their last pass through town was as the opener for Hayes Carll at The Sheldon back in March. I don’t remember how I found out bout this band, but my first time seeing them was this past summer at the Newport Folk Fest and their set turned out to be one of my favorites of the weekend. If mp3s could be worn out, my copy of Billy Jack would be unplayable. This is a band that any time someone asks me what kind of band they are, the only thing I can come up with is country, though that’s probably not accurate for anyone who is a genre nerd. Fronted by Suzanto on banjo mostly and Ben Jaffe on guitar, they sing songs about getting wasted because there’s just nothing else to do, taking personal responsibility before blaming others, and missing all of those friends that were with you back when life was simple. I was already a fan of their music, but watching their live show and listening to their stage banter hooked me for good.

The good folks at The Pageant have graced us with two pairs of tickets to give away to YOU. Simply drop us a comment on this post, say hello on Facebook, or give us tweet on Twitter if you want to throw your name in the hat. The show is this Saturday and we’ll pick our winners on Thursday, so don’t dilly dally around!