Popular singer and songwriter Emily Higgins, pictured, accompanied by guitarist Bo Brown will be the first headliners in the second season of Americana & Roots in the Gardens. The outdoor concert on the Moon Stage in the Mizumoto Japanese Stroll Garden will be held at 7:30 p.m. on Thursday, May 12, 2016. The fundraiser is sponsored in cooperation with the Friends of the Garden, Springfield Botanical Gardens, Missouri Prairie Foundation and the Springfield-Greene County Park Board.

The one-hour performance benefits the Kickapoo Edge Prairie, one of five naturalized areas among the 20 themed gardens and 15 special collections in the Springfield Botanical Gardens located in Nathanael Greene/Close Memorial Park, 2400 S. Scenic Ave., in southwest Springfield. Admission is a suggested donation of $10 for adults.

Proceeds will be used to create a paved trail through the Kickapoo Edge Prairie to accommodate walkers, strollers and wheelchairs, said Ric Mayer, chair of the Friends of the Garden group that develops and maintains the prairie garden located east of the Springfield-Greene County Botanical Center.

Just as the volunteers who are working to reclaim two acres of the Springfield Botanical Gardens as prairie land, Higgins has recently released her fourth album, 91 Acres, a collection of songs commissioned by an Ozarks landowner to memorialize his journey to restore the water, river bluffs, woods, open fields and dry creek hills of his property.

Higgins is a former member of the acoustic trio, The RedHouse WoodPickers, and currently performs with Auntie Em and the Tornadoes and Three Left Feet. Higginss calming voice spinning tracks of new and traditional folk, folk-pop and local and regional musicians can be heard as the host and producer of KSMU radios The Mulberry Tree every Sunday at 10 p.m.

Bo Brown, who also plays mandolin and dobro, is another local favorite. He has played with Blackberry Winter, the group that appeared in the four-time Oscar-nominated film, Winters Bone. Brown toured with the group from coast to coast in 27 cities in concerts based on the movie.

Two other familiar local artists, Mark Bilyeu and Cindy Woolf, are scheduled for the next concert on June 16. They will perform a blend of original and traditional folk music as The CreekRocks. Other concerts in the series include:

• Thursday, July 14--Tech & the Roadies will play Americana-stylized arrangements of mellow rock and folk classics and the best of their original songs.

• Thursday, August 11Flagship Romance plays original harmonic and alternative folk music that blend Jordyn Jackson's jazz background with Shawn Fisher's unique guitar- playing.

• Thursday, September 15To be announced.

• Wednesday, October 12Guitarist and international artist Claude Bourbon will play his medieval and delta-infused blues.

Bring a lawn chair or blanket for more comfortable seating. In case of inclement weather, the concerts, suitable for all ages, will be held inside the Springfield-Greene County Botanical Center. Free parking is available near the entrance of the venue.

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