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

Lonesome River Band Brings Bluegrass to Blowing Rock May 12

Story by David Brewer

Currently celebrating their 25th year in the bluegrass business, legendary quintet the Lonesome River Band will journey to Blowing Rock for a show at the Hayes Performing Arts Center on Saturday, May 12. The show costs $20 and starts at 7:30 p.m.

Led by the driving banjo of bandleader Sammy Shelor, the Lonesome River Band has, like other longstanding bluegrass acts, been a revolving door of some of the genre’s most recognizable names, including Dan Tyminski, Rickie Simpkins, Ronnie Bowman, Tim Austin, Don Rigsby, Mike Hartgrove and Kenny Smith.

The band currently features Matt Leadbetter on Dobro, Brandon Rickman on lead guitar and vocals, Andy Ball on mandolin and lead vocals and Mike Anglin playing the upright bass.

For fans of powerful vocal harmonies with a distinctive Southern edge and fine-tuned instrumental abilities, the Lonesome River Band’s precise and mature sound will likely please fans of Doyle Lawson & Quicksilver, J.D. Crowe & The New South and Blue Highway.

Since the 1991 release of their breakout CD, Carrying The Tradition, the Lonesome River Band has been a top-drawing bluegrass act. Recording nearly a dozen albums throughout their career, the band’s latest release is their 2005 CD Head on into Heartache.

Shelor got his musical start at four years of age, and his first instrument consisted of a banjo fashioned from an old pressure cooker lid. The quick study soon earned a real banjo and was performing in local bands by age 10.

At age 19, Shelor joined The Heights of Grass, a band that eventually morphed into The Virginia Squires and brought him into contact with banjo legend Sonny Osborne. A member of the Osborne Brothers, Sonny helped shape the young picker’s approach to being a professional banjo player.

Shelor was voted Banjo Player of the Year on four separate occasions by International Bluegrass Music Association, and pickers all over the world have studied his tab books and instructional DVDs.

To purchase tickets for the show, click to www.brcac.org or call the Hayes Performing Arts Center box office at 828-295-9627.

For more info on the Lonesome River Band, click to www.lonesomeriverband.com.

Want To Go?

Date: Saturday, May 12
Time: 7:30 p.m.
Location: Hayes Performing Arts Center
Cost: $20