Jesse Iaquinto founded Fireside Collective in 2014 with a particular purpose: gather a group of bluegrass players in Asheville and write songs that could offer “comfort and warmth to the listener.” Twelve years on, that founding impulse has produced MerleFest honors, IBMA nominations, and a chart-placing album; more to the point, it has built a live reputation on sets that drift, deliberately, far from where they started. That journey arrives at Buffalo Iron Works in Buffalo on Thursday, December 10.
About the Show
Fireside Collective started life as a newgrass and acoustic folk outfit. Iaquinto was working at the Biltmore Estate and studying folk and country music when he first gathered those players in Asheville in 2014; the other original members balanced jobs and college while exploring the same tradition. They drew from the instrumental lineage of Jerry Douglas, Tony Rice, and Béla Fleck, and from the songwriting of Robert Hunter and Bob Dylan. The pandemic prompted a reimagining: the band absorbed Grateful Dead-style improvisation and extended jamming; then, with the late-2023 addition of drummer Michael Tillis, folded in funk, classic rock, and world music. The result is what the Smoky Mountain News called “one of the rising stars in the jam-grass and greater psychedelic music scene,” a five-piece that pairs the tonal intimacy of Iaquinto’s mandolin and Tommy Maher’s resonator guitar with set-to-set improvisation and a groove built for a crowd. Their 2020 album Elements charted at #3 on the Billboard Bluegrass Charts; their latest record, The Seven, released October 31, 2025, carries eleven tracks of progressive folk and Southern Appalachian roots music that leave room for the kind of live stretching a studio can only suggest. The full lineup: Joe Cicero (guitar), Tommy Maher (resonator guitar), Carson White (bass), and Tillis alongside Iaquinto. Iaquinto has described the experience he’s reaching for as one where audiences can “escape the confines of time and the pressures of modern life,” and with 27 concerts scheduled across the country in 2026, including festival appearances at Bourbon & Beyond and the Annapolis Baygrass Music Festival, the band has earned more than enough chances to make that case.
Venue & Logistics
Buffalo Iron Works sits at 49 Illinois Street in Buffalo, a western New York club where you can track the interplay between Iaquinto’s mandolin and Maher’s dobro while the groove builds around them. Doors open at 7:00 p.m., with the show beginning at 8:00 p.m. This is an 18-and-older event.
Tickets
No ticket price was available from sources at the time of publication. Tickets are sold through Eventim with all-in pricing that includes fees, taxes, and applicable charges. Buy tickets