Tune up your flat top, rosin up your bow, re-string your washtub and put on your best dress overalls. It’s time for BREWGRASS! A Bluegrass and Microbrew Celebration.
If you're coming down from the hills for just one event this year, make sure it's Friday and Saturday, November 12th and 13th 2010 for the seventh annual BREWGRASS! where you're gonna find all kinds of great Bluegrass music and a load of great craft brewed beers.
And for any Brewgrass! goers wishing to spend the night in town, the nearby Cap Sante Inn is offering a discount on lodging with advance reservation. Call them @ (360) 293-0602 and tell them your coming to town for Brewgrass!
Now check out this hot line up:
Friday, November 12
Brown Lantern: Boys of Greenwood Glen
Rockfish: Grapevine Bluegrass
Majestic: The Duntons
Watertown: Dysfunction Junction
Saturday, November 13
Brown Lantern: Spoonshine
Rockfish: The Howdy Boys
Majestic: Pearly Blue
Watertown: Prozac Mountain Boys
ARTISTS APPEARING AT BREWGRASS!:
The Prozac Mountain Boys as their name suggests offer an uplifting, therapeutic mixture of traditional, bluegrass and modern music. Composed of musicians from Washington State’s northernmost counties, the Prozac Mountain Boys combine bluegrass instrumentation with rich vocal harmonies to create a surprisingly familiar and intimate blend of yesterday and today. From Bill Monroe to Bob Dylan, from the Beatles to the Grateful Dead, no music is safe from the Prozac Mountain Boys.
The Duntons are a bluegrass based vocal group that call Anacortes home. They have received national acclaim over the years. Here's a sample of what folks have said:
"Boy, I tell you, these girls can sing, can't they!" --Ralph Stanley
"These are very talented ladies." --Tony Rice
"Don't forget their name...man oh man, great music there!" --Sam Jackson, Owner, Station Inn, Nashville
"I don't know how Milton (Harkey) happened upon these songbirds from the great northwest, but all in attendance (at Bluegrass First Class) were treated to some of the loveliest harmonies you're likely to hear anywhere...with all the beauty one's soul can absorb." --Wooville Newsletter
The Boys of Greenwood Glen perform rugged, high energy, acoustic music. No tricks , no mirrors, the real deal.
Ricky Gene Powell, the multi-instrumentalist on vocals, mandolin, banjo, dobro and accordian is the leader of the band. This self professed American cowboy has a wealth of experience combined with a warm hearted presence and a light handed approach to life. On stage he’s immensely entertaining, and some folks say, just plain lovable.
From the pen of James Rafferty, vocalist, guitar and harmonica player, Irish American: “Ireland is just a dream away”, say the poets. So how about a pint, a story, and a tune.
And last but not least: Somethings are best made with no seasoning. They are just that good. Such is Dan Good providing darn good bass and vocals.
Pearly Blue is a northwest bluegrass group that specializes in a traditional presentation of mountain music. It’s members are veterans of many top Washington bluegrass bands including the Dunton Sisters, the Ohop Valley Boys, the Downtown Mountain Boys and The Fossils to name a few.
Guitarist and Anacortes resident Barry Brower has been at the core of many fine groups in addition to The Fossils. He also formed the Friends of Sally Johnson in the 1980s. Barry is a bluegrass writer and historian, and was a longtime emcee of KBCS “Bluegrass Ramble.”
Jen Dunton is familiar to many Skagit Valley residents from her years of performing at the Rockfish Grill with the Dunton Sisters. She switches from guitar to bass in Pearly Blue but that sweet voice remains. The legendary Ralph Stanley said of her and her sister Bev Dunton, “Those girls sure can sing!” She has performed with the likes of Tony and Larry Rice and interviewed with major recording labels in Nashville.
Rich Jones has been a long-time stalwart on the Washington bluegrass scene. Raised in Darrington, the son of a talented musician from North Carolina, Rich has been playing banjo since he was a teenager. He is a multi-instrumentalist adept at guitar and mandolin as well as banjo. Rich has been a member of Ron Spears and Within Tradition and the Ohop Valley Boys.
Called a "national class mandolin and fiddle player" by the Portland Oregonian, fiddler Pete Martin lives in Seattle. In addition to fiddle, Pete plays mandolin, guitar, and tenor guitar and has performed and recorded with many Northwest artists including the Skyline Drifters. In 1994, he was National Adult Fiddle Champion at the National Oldtime Fiddlers Contest in Weiser, Idaho. Pete supports himself teaching music, is a regular columnist for Mandolin Magazine, and has authored seven instructional books on mandolin and fiddle playing.
Whether a sweet tremolo on a ballad, soulful Monroe-style blues licks, or a lightning-fast instrumental, mandolinist Tom Moran keeps you on the edge of your seat. Tom has that rare gift of being innovative without ever losing touch with his pure bluegrass roots. Also a member of the Seattle group, the Downtown Mountain Boys, he is the author of a bluegrass column for Mandolin Magazine and the founder of the Seattle Mandolin Orchestra. Tom also teaches a bluegrass class at Shoreline Community College in Seattle.
The Grapevine Bluegrass Band celebrates traditional and contemporary bluegrass music in the Pacific Northwest. Their influences range from contemporary bluegrass to swing and old time music. The band is made up of some of the top players in the Northwest: Rich Jones on banjo and vocals, Dee Johnson on bass, champion fiddler John Melnichuk, Jamie Blair on guitar and vocals and Jeff Westerinen on mandolin and vocals.
Spoonshine has been working, touring the west coast, up north to Alaska, down south to Joshua Tree California. Members have traveled back and forth to Europe for studio session work. Recently, Jacob Navarro was asked to collaborate with Eddie Vedder on his song “Better Days” for the movie soundtrack “Eat Pray Love”. His mandolin playing can be heard featured on that song.
Not long ago, they connected with producer Adam Kasper (Cat Power, Pearl Jam, REM, Tragically Hip, Into The Wild soundtrack, Soundgarden….), and ventured into the studio to explore ideas, along with George Schwindt from Flogging Molly acclaim on drums. This album is recently completed, and preproduction for the follow up has already begun. Matt Hermstad (drums) has joined the roster, along with James Moffitt (guitar), and the sound continues to evolve.
Of a recent performance the editor of Jambase wrote this about the band: “With a thick, steady low end like Railroad Earth and a leader on mandolin/acoustic guitar that strongly recalls The Bad Livers, Spoonshine rumbled with all the growl and scrapple you’d ever want from a string band with rock leanings. With fierce picking that recalls Tim O’Brien in his youth and a voice that just might unleash hellfire one day, Jacob Navarro made one feel, by turns, that the grave loomed near or one had just gotten the best kiss they could remember in recent history….” Dennis Cook, Jambase. Stay tuned, Spoonshine is just getting started.
Hatched in the Seattle bluegrass jam scene, Dysfunction Junction is a rotating group of Seattle's finest bluegrass musicians coming together with the sole intent of having a good time while creating fantastic music.
This is the typical line-up: Pat Ferris is originally from Detroit, but has called the Seattle area his home since age five. As a passionate musician, Pat is the founder and publisher of HotBands.com and an international promoter of bands world-wide. He sings and plays most stringed and wind instruments but has settled into his most comfortable role as bassist for this band. In addition to regular stand-up bass, Pat often plays a 3-stringed Cabletub Bass, which is a cross between a washtub and a traditional stand up bass.
Mandolinist John Brogan hails from Albuquerque, New Mexico and has relocated to Seattle area to work for the US Fisheries. John played fiddle as a child and got the bluegrass bug in 2000 when he bought his first mandolin.
Kirk Reese began playing bluegrass guitar in college after a few years of playing mostly electric music. He moved to Seattle from Iowa in the winter of 2000, picked up the mandolin and after a couple of years was playing in a couple of different local bluegrass and hillbilly bands. He still performs solo and writes his own music, but is having a great time playing bluegrass again.
From the heart of bluegrass country in East Tennessee and born with a banjo in his hands, Jason Stewart is a true professional among professionals. With a resume that boasts appearances at The Grand Ole Opry, recordings with Bryan Sutton, Emmylou Harris, and Grammy winner Jim Lauderdale, Jason also tours with Northwest bluegrass headliner, Prairie Flyer.
Migrating to Seattle from Johnstown, Pennsylvania, Tim Wetmiller is one of the most gifted and active musicians in Seattle, playing everything from gypsy jazz and western swing to Latin, Cuban and everything in-between. Tim plays more than 200 shows per year with three different bands, which leaves little time for anything other than practice or performance.
THE HOWDY BOYS come charging out of Seattle, ready to pick and sing all night long. Our roots are in the great 1950's hard driving honky tonk sound, mixing blistering barnstormers and breakdowns with bouncy blues and ballads for dancing. Our original tunes and songs pepper the mix of classic bluegrass and traditional country material. Crying fiddle, sparkling banjo, soulful guitar and propulsive bass augment the full-tilt solos and haunting harmonies; it all adds up to the sound that is THE HOWDY BOYS!
Fiddler DOUG BRIGHT mastered oldtime and bluegrass music at an early age and his expert fiddle, mandolin, accordion, harmonica, and guitar playing have set fire to some great bands! He founded and edits the Heritage Review, a Northwest roots music magazine. Banjo picker BILL SCOTT powers the show with his Don Reno-inspired leads and rock solid timing borne of more than forty years of picking & singing. Bill's cheerful spirits and high level playing has made him the "go-to" banjo player for countless NW bands over the years. JEFF BROHIER anchors the HOWDY BOYS with his bass playing and writes down to earth bluegrass songs which he sings with passion and grit. He was a founding member of the legendary 78 RPM, which electrified audiences all over the northwest with their high energy drive. Guitar picker and lead singer ROB BULKLEY got the bluegrass disease after hearing Doc Watson and Clarence White. He mixes his own bluesy, soulful guitar sound with heartfelt, energetic vocals on classic, obscure, and original songs.
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