YeeHaw Junction completed a successful four day run on Sunday morning with Mike & Mary Robinson's well attended Gospel Jam & Sing. The three days of professional bands preceding were responded to with enthusiasm and strong attendance. The model that promoters Keith & Darlene Bass have developed for their festival works well, offering fewer bands that stop play early enough in the evening to allow for jamming and also offer a leisurely morning for visiting. The provision of a supper break encourages people to eat and cook together as well as to take advantage of the offerings of a good variety of food and craft vendors. They successfully extended the 30 amp electric service to more campers as well as offer in almost unlimited rough camping. Held in a cow pasture just beyond the intersection of the Florida Turnpike and Highway 60 between Vero Beach and Lake Wales, the grounds are convenient for festival goers from much of Florida. This year the music was varied and of high quality.
Lorraine Jordan & Carolina Road
Hard working Lorraine Jordan brought her familiar program and hard-sell merchandizing to YeeHaw Junction. She has a well-established fan base who travel to see her and has taken good advantage of the Daughters of Bluegrass franchise to keep her name in front of the public. Josh Goforth's pleasant personality and versatility and Ben Green's hard driving Scruggs style banjo continue to be a highlight of the band's performances. Newcomer John Bradley (Dale Ann's son) is an accomplished traditional and contemporary bass player.
Lorraine Jordan
Josh Goforth
Ben Green
Tommy Long
John Bradley
Chris Sexton - Fiddle Workshop
Justin Tomlin - Workshop
Cumberland Gap Connection
Mike Bentley
Rob Smith
J.D. Messer
Bryan Russell
Albon Clevenger
Mitchell Davis - Workshop
Mitchell Davis
Saturday dawned sunny and warm and only got better. The bands were strong and varied, the audience large and appreciative, the evening a bit on the brisk side.
Still-House
Still-House is a young band with lots of professional experience, a broad repertoire of classic bluegrass and contemporary bluegrass styles, and fine virtuoso performers. As they develop and gain broader exposure they deserve careful attention as they could be one of the finest of the young emerging groups about to make their marks on the bluegrass scene. They showed their bluegrass chops early with lots of Bill Monroe and Flatt & Scruggs delivered with drive and enthusiasm. After establishing their deep connection to the traditions of bluegrass music, they also showcased their mastery of covers from the last two decades and Chris Harris's fine originals. The addition of Harris to this already good band has served to ice the cake. Meanwhile, Justin Tomlin has gone on to Nothin' Fancy where he is establishing himself as a fine singer and guitarist. These young men have been playing together since they were kids, and it shows in their joy in making music together, their range, and their skill. I've already posted a good selection of their work on my YouTube channel with more to come in a couple of weeks.
Chris Harris
Kevin Mackinnon
Keith Mackinnon
Jamie Harper
Kameron Keller
Keith Bass & the Florida Bluegrass Express
Keith Bass & the Florida Bluegrass Express are emerging as one of the top traditional bluegrass bands in Florida, playing well-paced as well as covers of the first three generations of bluegrass. They do a credible job with the founders as well as taking on songs by the Country Gentlemen and Seldom Scene. Fiddler Jason Baker provides fine fiddle as well as a good dose of corny humor. Clint Dockery is solid on the mandolin. Several of his students appeared in the program over the weekend. Shane Stuart is a good lead singer and his wife Kathy has improved enormously on bass during the past year. Keith Bass is a solid banjo player who has molded together an enjoyable band.
Keith Bass
Shane Stuart
Clint Dockery
Jason Baker
Kathy Stuart
Mike Robinson - Emcee
You never know exactly who Cody Shuler will show up with at a festival for a performance of Pine Mountain Railroad. Beyond the accomplished singer Jerry Cole, it's often a sort of grab bag. This weekend he brought a very strong band which presented two of the best sets I've ever seen from this band. Veteran banjo master Terry Baucom and accomplished young bassist Matt Wallace provided the drive that pushed this band to a level of excellence we haven't seen before. Matt Flake on fiddle returned to the band he traveled with for several years with his first rate fiddling and subtle humor. Shuler's voice was in good form as they played a strong program with plenty of their signature gospel music. Their gospel trio included several songs from 1930's black gospel groups that brought a strong response.
Cody Shuler
Jerry Cole
Terry Baucom
Matt Flake
Matt Wallace
Bob Landry with
His Autographed Airstream Door
The Golf Cart Brigade
Little Fan
Junior Sisk stands head and shoulders above all the other practitioners of traditional bluegrass music in that, while he sounds old, almost all his material is new, written by and for his band and carefully selected from a stable of writers. Juniors love for the old-timers (especially the Stanley Brothers) and the best of the third generation recreators of traditional music (particularly the Johnson Mountain Boys) is clear both in the new music he plays and in the covers he selects. His voice is distinctive and eminently listenable while he is also one of the foremost rhythm guitar players in the business. (It's really too bad that IBMA doesn't break the Guitar Player of the Year into two categories, one for hot flat-pickers and the other for rhythm guitar.) Junior has become an able, even funny, emcee, largely overcoming his natural shy reticence. He has surrounded himself with the best band of his career. Chris Davis, the latest edition on mandolin and vocals, rounds out exceptional crew. Jason Davis, no relation to Chris, quietly provides powerful drive and sharp, accurate banjo picking. Billy Hawks is at times quiet and reflective and at other times hot and piercing, always exhibiting the three T's in abundance. Jason Tomlin has productively switched to bass and fills in the high tenor part on vocal trios with energy and enthusiasm. It's a wonderful band.
Junior Sisk
Billy Hawks
Jason "Sweet Tater" Tomlin
Jason Davis
Chris Davis
The Vocal Trio - Davis, Tomlin, Sisk
The Sound Guys
Phillip? & George Wells
Bluegrass Gospel Sing & Jam
Mike & Mary Robinson
Itinerant bluegrass preacher Mike Robinson and his wife Mary have been ministering to the gospel community and conducting Sunday morning devotions with a heavy emphasis on singing old time gospel songs, for ten years. Their ministry is welcomed at many bluegrass festivals where Mike also serves as an able emcee.
The Jammers
The Congregation
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