Getting To Know The Lonesome River Band: Blues at its best
In 2007 Lonesome River Band celebrates 25 years in Bluegrass as one of the most popular and influential acts on the bluegrass festival and concert circuit. They have not looked back since the release of their breakout CD, Carrying The Tradition, in 1991, which included current LRB band leader Sammy Shelor, as well as Dan Tyminski, Ronnie Bowman and Lonesome River Band founder, Tim Austin. They recorded a project for Sugar Hill Records, Old Country Town, before Tyminski accepted a gig with Alison Krauss & Union Station, and Austin decided to leave the road to focus on his recording studio, Doobie Shea.
Like any band whose success has endured for 25 years, Lonesome River Band has seen some very talented musicians come and go. One readily thinks of acts like The Country Gentlemen, Seldom Scene, Doyle Lawson & Quicksilver, or JD Crowe & the New South as examples of successful bluegrass bands whose lineup has undergone a number of complete changes over the years, while still retaining the distinctive sound that brought them their success. As LRB continues to record and perform bluegrass music with both critical and commercial success, their name deserves mention in that list as well.
Through changes in vocalists and rhythm sections, the constant in the wildly popular LRB sound has been Shelor’s insistent, driving banjo style. His peers in the International Bluegrass Music Association have voted him Banjo Player of the Year on four separate occasions. Banjo pickers all over the world have studied Sam’s tab books and instructional DVD from AcuTab.
Lonesome River Band consists of Mike Hartgrove on fiddle (newly returned to the band), Brandon Rickman doing Lead Guitar and Vocals, Andy Ball playing Mandolin and Lead Vocals, Mike Anglin playing the Bass. These outstanding players bring a wealth of talent and energy to the quarter century year old Lonesome River Band.
[Source: www.lonesomeriverband.com]
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About their latest release: No Turning Back.
More information about The Band
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