Serving Boone, Blowing Rock, Banner Elk, and other towns of the North Carolina High Country | Founded 05-05-05

Mountainhome Music Presents The Circuit Riders Saturday

Before Bill Monroe, there was no bluegrass. In his early years as a performer, he played and sang with his brother Charlie, but in the late 1930s, he had a different sound in his head and set out on his own to discover what it was. After experimenting with different instruments and sounds and rhythms, Monroe eventually decided he liked the banjo, guitar, bass fiddle, fiddle and mandolin. Like Monroe himself, the music was part Scottish and a lot like his early influences, including the blues, Scots-Irish fiddle tunes and old hymns. The sound was so entertaining and unique, Bill Monroe and his Bluegrass Boys quickly found a lifetime gig on the Grand Ole Opry.

After Bill Monroe, others continued to “bluegrass” sound, most notably The Stanley Brothers and Flatt and Scruggs. In the 1940s and ‘50s, bluegrass bands began to appear all across the country. As the second generation of bluegrass bands began to appear, The Country Gentleman became another seminal band, giving rise to careers of bluegrass notables such as Charlie Walker, Jimmy Gaudreau, Jerry Douglas and Doyle Lawson. Charlie Walker, the group’s founder, stayed with the Country Gentleman until his death in 2004.

After Charlie Walker’s death, band members Darwin Aldridge, Greg Corbett and Billy Gee decided to strike out on their own. This was the beginning of The Circuit Riders.

The Circuit Riders will appear this Saturday night, July 19, on the Mountainhome Music stage. The concert, In the Beginning, Bluegrass, starts at 8:00 p.m. at the Blowing Rock School Auditorium on Sunset Drive in downtown Blowing Rock.

According to Ed Moschler of Bluegrass Primer Magazine, “Not often are new bands worthy to be labeled ‘super-group’ but in this case, the tag fits. Out of the ashes of Charlie Waller’s Country Gentlemen come the new sounds, the fresh energy, and an abundance of bluegrass soul in the form of The Circuit Riders...Darin Aldridge (mandolin), Greg Corbett (banjo), and Billy Gee (bass) have teamed up with resophonic guitar master Jaret Carter and the multi-talented Greg Luck, from III Tyme Out (guitar/fiddle), to form an amazing new bluegrass unit.”

About their first album, reviewer Joe Sixpack wrote, “One of the finest bluegrass albums of the last few years. Featuring several former members of the late, great Country Gentlemen, this top-flight quintet ably carries the torch for the ‘progressive’ bluegrass camp. They sing melodic songs with heart and feeling, and beautiful, understated harmonies. Nice picking, too, but it doesn’t take over the whole show, or make this feel like yet another hotshot super-picker album. I really liked this album!”

All Mountainhome Music concerts also feature the songs and stories of Joe Shannon and audience sing-a-longs.

Tickets are $12.50 in advance and $15 at the door. Tickets for college and high school students are $10 at the door only. Tickets are available at Mast Stores, Rydell Music Center, Pandora’s Mailbox in Blowing Rock, Fred’s Mercantile on Beech Mountain, Blue Moon Guitars in West Jefferson and online at www.mountainhomemusic.com.

The purpose of Mountainhome Music is to honor the music and musicians of the Appalachian region. It is affiliated with the Blue Ridge Music Trails, a project of the North Carolina Arts Council.

For more information, click to the Mountainhome Music website or call 828-964-3392.

Want To Go?
Date: Saturday, July 19
Time: 8:00 p.m.
Location: Blowing Rock School Auditorium
Cost: $12.50 advance/$15 at the door