Blackwater Bluegrass The sound of banjo's are still echoing down the Blackwater River
from the 2008 Fall Festival. The weather this year was really nice.
Friday the sun was warm and the music hot - Out of the Blue, Kelli
Johnson and David Davis made sure of that.
You could hear beautiful bluegrass music down around the campfires,
long have the stage lights cooled. Some people feel that campfire
music is heart and soul of most festivals. On Saturday, the sky was overcast but not one drop of rain fell.
Just before sunset the clouds parted and the sky put on a show.
Saturday's lineup included Speeds Mill, Foggy Hollow, the Paitt Family,
Glenn Tolbert and friends as well as Blackwater favorite Marty Rabon. Organizers will soon be at work booking talent for the Spring show
so watch your email for updates. Click on the Mailing List link to
get bluegrass updates from Blackwater Bluegrass.
Fall Schedule Coming Together for Blackwater Bluegrass
This year's Blackwater Bluegrass festival
is on October
10th and 11th. Organizers have a great lineup again this
year. Friday
night. Clear
Blue Sky, Kelli
Johnson, as well as David
Davis & the Warrior River Boys. Saturday night will featureSpeeds
Mill, Glenn
Tolbert & Resonators,
Foggy Hollow, The
Paitt Family, and Marty
Rabon.
The Blackwater Bluegrass took a major leap in attendance for
the Spring show and most of the camper hookups were taken. If
you want a good camping spot, be sure to reserve you slot early. Kelli Johnson is
best known as the Lead Singer for the Dynamic bluegrass group,
The Distant Cousins. She has been performing at festivals and
various other venues in the Southeast for almost a decade and
was a recent studio guest on the Award-winning Rick and Bubba & show!
Kelli has been compared to Allison Krauss, Sheryl Crow, and Rhonda Vincent,
but she has blended bluegrass, country and rock to create a
sound that is all her own and like no other! Carrying
an Alabama family tradition, David Davis and the Warrior River Boys offer audiences
a rare glimpse
at the role of the front man in American music. In Chicago
Blues, it was Muddy Waters and the legendary Howlin’ Wolf. In Bluegrass
music, it was Bill Monroe. Rather than operating under trendy “hit” oriented
marketing schemes, front man mandolinist David Davis simply nurtures his roots
with integrity, tonal depth, and prose. After a couple of Rounder label
projects in the early ‘90’s, David and the band snapped rave reviews
with their self-titled 2004 release on Rebel Records - “….sure-fire
picking and train whistle harmonies.” USA Today. Their newest 2006
Rebel release, “Troubled Times”, is imbued with the innate sense
of purpose that defines David and The Warrior River Boys: carrying an Alabama
family tradition.
Speeds Mill is a Gospel Bluegrass band from Tuscaloosa, Alabama and they will
be performing on Saturday. These guys have a MySpace page with their music
and schedule. Blackwater Bluegrass fans will love this band.
Glenn
Tolbert is a guitar picker extraordinaire. His flat picking
style is legendary. He grew up around Chandler Mountain and
was a regular at Horse pens 40 back when Warren Musgrove ran
that show.
Glenn now lives in Birmingham and entertains around the state.
"He's the only picker I've ever known that can
outrun an banjo player," one fan mused.
Glenn is a delightful person and a great musician.
The Piatt Family Band is
an up and coming family bluegrass band, with Owen, 17,
playing the banjo; Cody, 12, playing stand up bass and
twin brother Cory, playing mandolin. Rob, their dad,
plays guitar and
is lead singer. The harmonizing of
these voices creates a wonderful combination of music.
Owen the banjo player has
been playing for 8 yrs. In 2007 he placed 1st at Honeysuckle
Pumpkin Patch in Coopertown, TN. Owen has been
working on the guitar and singing, and doing a great job.
Cory the mandolin
player has been playing for 4 yrs. Cory placed
1st at GALAX, VA. in the youth mandolin contest in 2007, go
to the picture page to see some photos of Galax. He
also placed 1st in Honeysuckle in the Adult Mandolin competition. In
2006 he placed 1st in adult competition in Dickson, TN. He
also placed 3rd at Smithville, TN. and 1st at Whitehouse. Cory
is an amazing mandolin player. Cody is a monster on
the bass. Cody does a good job on tenor vocals while
keeping the beat for the Piatt Family Band.
Clear Blue Sky - Together for many
years, and formerly known in the Central/North Alabama
area as "Out
of the Blue", "Clear Blue Sky" has
become popular for their eclectic mix of songs and tight
vocal harmonies. Known as the "house band" for the semi-annual
Blackwater Bluegrass Festival,
their popularity with the crowds at these festivals has
given them cause to expand their musical horizons to include
bluegrass festivals and venues throughout Alabama, Florida,
Georgia, Tennessee, Louisiana and Mississippi. While the
band specializes in mainstream bluegrass, their song list
includes popular country and rock 'n roll tunes with a "grassed-up" sound,
and their vocal harmonies are quite innovative, if not
unique. The three and sometimes four part (often a cappella)
harmonies demonstrated by the band has made them a fan
favorite at every show they play. The band may begin a
set with a classic Flatt and Scruggs tune, then go immediately
in to a grassy rendition of "Workin' Man's Blues". It is
this diversity that makes them so popular with the crowd
at every appearance.
Marty Raybon to
Plays Blackwater Bluegrass Festival From
the very first time you heard Marty Raybon, as the lead singer
of the award winning country music group Shenandoah, singing “Mama
Knows”, “Ghost In This House”, “Two Dozen
Roses”, “Church On Cumberland Road”, and “Somewhere
In The Vicinity Of The Heart” you knew he was one of those
gifted vocalists. He can take a lyric and put heartbreak into the
melody like no other singer before him. Rascal Flatts’ lead
vocalist Gary LeVox, called Marty “the greatest singer on
the planet to this day” and country music historian Robert
K. Oerman said “Marty Raybon’s voice is truly one of
Nashville’s greatest treasures”.
Marty Raybon will be performing at Blackwater Bluegrass on Saturday Ocotober
11th. The music begins at 4 p.m. on Friday and at 11 a.m. on Saturday. Click
here for Marty's Website.
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News you can use.
Johnson and David Davis made sure of that. 
glimpse
at the role of the front man in American music. In Chicago
Blues, it was Muddy Waters and the legendary Howlin’ Wolf. In Bluegrass
music, it was Bill Monroe. Rather than operating under trendy “hit” oriented
marketing schemes, front man mandolinist David Davis simply nurtures his roots
with integrity, tonal depth, and prose. After a couple of Rounder label
projects in the early ‘90’s, David and the band snapped rave reviews
with their self-titled 2004 release on Rebel Records - “….sure-fire
picking and train whistle harmonies.” USA Today. Their newest 2006
Rebel release, “Troubled Times”, is imbued with the innate sense
of purpose that defines David and The Warrior River Boys: carrying an Alabama
family tradition.
Glenn
Tolbert is a guitar picker extraordinaire. His flat picking
style is legendary. He grew up around Chandler Mountain and
was a regular at Horse pens 40 back when Warren Musgrove ran
that show. 
and
is lead singer. The harmonizing of
these voices creates a wonderful combination of music.
harmonies. Known as the "house band" for the semi-annual
Blackwater Bluegrass Festival,
their popularity with the crowds at these festivals has
given them cause to expand their musical horizons to include
bluegrass festivals and venues throughout Alabama, Florida,
Georgia, Tennessee, Louisiana and Mississippi. While the
band specializes in mainstream bluegrass, their song list
includes popular country and rock 'n roll tunes with a "grassed-up" sound,
and their vocal harmonies are quite innovative, if not
unique. The three and sometimes four part (often a cappella)
harmonies demonstrated by the band has made them a fan
favorite at every show they play. The band may begin a
set with a classic Flatt and Scruggs tune, then go immediately
in to a grassy rendition of "Workin' Man's Blues". It is
this diversity that makes them so popular with the crowd
at every appearance. 
clicking
here.
From
the very first time you heard Marty Raybon, as the lead singer
of the award winning country music group Shenandoah, singing “Mama
Knows”, “Ghost In This House”, “Two Dozen
Roses”, “Church On Cumberland Road”, and “Somewhere
In The Vicinity Of The Heart” you knew he was one of those
gifted vocalists. He can take a lyric and put heartbreak into the
melody like no other singer before him. Rascal Flatts’ lead
vocalist Gary LeVox, called Marty “the greatest singer on
the planet to this day” and country music historian Robert
K. Oerman said “Marty Raybon’s voice is truly one of
Nashville’s greatest treasures”.