The Wild Feathers will headline Ukrop’s Monument Avenue 10K block party

Taylor Thornberg
Spectrum Editor

The annual Ukrop’s Monument Avenue 10K race provides a myriad of activities, from a beautiful running course to a huge concert and block party, and this year is no exception.

Last week Sports Backers, an organization that supports sports tourism in Richmond and owns and organizes the race, announced the entertainment for this year’s race, which will be on March 28. The Subway-sponsored post-race festival will be headlined by Nashville-based band The Wild Feathers.

A collaboration of five voices with five unique styles, The Wild Feathers is made up of members Ricky Young, Joel King, Taylor Burns, Preston Wimberly and Ben Dumas. The group describes their sound as being influenced by all kinds of American music, including folk, blues, rock and country, but with a modern touch that distances their music from being a rehash of past musicians and groups.

Young and King first met in Nashville, and the group first played together in Austin, Texas. They recorded their self-titled debut album in 2013, and enlisted the help of producer Jay Joyce, who also produced albums for Cage the Elephant, Emmylou Harris and The Wallflowers.

Since the album’s debut, the band has toured extensively both in the U.S. and Europe, and in their fall 2014 tour played with Apache Relay and Desert Noises. At Bonnaroo Music Festival in June 2014, they recorded a Spotify Sessions album, which was released to Spotify that September. The Wild Feathers are currently in their Nashville studio recording their next album, expected to release later this year.

The band will take the stage at the Subway post-race festival at 10:15 a.m. to welcome runners crossing the finish line and reuniting with their families and crews.

“We are thrilled to have The Wild Feathers performing at the Subway post-race festival and look forward to race day,” said Ukrop’s Monument Avenue race director Lisa Randolph. “The energy and excitement they’ll bring to Monroe Park will make it an even more memorable event for all participants.”

Opening for The Wild Feathers will be the Richmond-based band Long Arms, who also describe themselves with a variety of genres such as punk rock, country and folk.

Long Arms, made up of members Alex Smith, Greg Butler, Phil Heesen, James Menefee and Matt Webb, has been around since 2009, and released their debut album, called “Long Arms to Hold You” in 2010. They released their newest album, “Constant Comment” to iTunes in February 2014, and have played shows locally and throughout Virginia since then. Long Arms will take the stage at the Subway post-race festival at 9 a.m.

The concert is free and open to the public, but Sports Backers has asked that the food and beverages provided be taken only by race participants. However, registration for the 10K is open online for $40 from now until the end of February, and goes up to $45 from March 1-23, after which online registration closes. Walk-up registration on the day of the race is $50, and the race begins at 8:30 a.m.

If you don’t run, there’s always a place for you in the cheering section lining the sidewalk of Monument Avenue.