Ward Hayden and The Outliners Courtesy of the artist

Ward Hayden & The Outliers will perform an acoustic an electric show at 8 p.m. Friday, July 9, at the Stone Mountain Arts Center’s Maine Hall at 695 Dugway Road, in Brownfield.

The band was formed as a way to break from the music so commonly found on popular radio airwaves. Hayden’s foray into country music and early rock ‘n’ roll began with a fateful borrowing of a few of his mother’s cassettes. When asked, Hayden remarks, “I was doing these long drives and there was nothing appealing to me on the radio. I was 20 years old at the time and had been through my first experiences with heartbreak and loss. When I put some of these cassettes on the player in my Oldsmobile Delta Eighty-Eight, all I could think was, “this is everything I’ve been searching for.”
It took a few years after that to get the band up and running, and now with a line up featuring Paul Dilley on upright/electric bass, Josh Kiggans on drums, and Cody Nilsen on lead guitar/pedal steel the band has cut it’s teeth the old fashioned way: on the road and on the stage. Since their formation they’ve barnstormed far beyond their Boston hometown, playing honky-tonks, beer joints and more recently concert venues throughout the U.S. They’ve amassed a loyal legion of fans along the way.

Tickets cost $30.

For more information, visit stonemountainartscenter.com.