Adkins - Loudermilk Announce New Members

David Adkins, formerly lead singer of David Adkins & Republik Steel and Edgar Loudermilk, after seven years playing bass and singing both bass and tenor with Russel Moore & IIIrd Tyme Out, are teaming up to form a band called Adkins & Loudermilk.  Bringing youth, enthusiasm, expertise, and experience together with quality singing and instrumental work, the advent of this new band has been greeted with wholesale enthusiasm by the bluegrass community. Today, they announce the two new members of their band: Glen Crain on Dobro and Andrew Crawford on Guitar.

Glen Crain

 Glen Crain has been around music all his life. He started playing drums as a small child, and as a teenager learned to play bass. Then at the age of 25, he started learning DOBRO and lap steel.

Glen played with numerous bands over the years and enjoys all types of music. But, his passion is bluegrass. He spent ten years with a Greenville, SC based bluegrass band, The New Dixie Storm, which won the band contest at RenoFest in 2006. Playing with Adkins and Loudermilk "… is like getting together with old friends and playing music. These guys are fun. I’ve always loved family harmony, and they sing together like family, a refreshing new/old sound.” When Glen is not playing music, he enjoys his family and friends, and his home in Clearmont, Westminster, SC. Glen and his wife Lynn enjoy traveling on their Harley Davidson Electra Glide Ultra Classic and seeing the South.

Andrew Crawford

  

 Twenty-eight year old Andrew Crawford was born and raised in upstate South Carolina and lives in close proximity to Edgar Loudermilk. He started playing guitar at age 14 and met Aaron Ramsey (Mountain Heart) when he was 16. The two quickly became best friends and are like brothers 'til this day. Aaron introduced Andrew to Randy Kohrs whose band he soon joined and performed with from 2005-2009. Andrew can be heard on Kohrs’ albums “Old Photograph” and “Quicksand” playing rhythm and lead guitar. He was also part of the band’s performance on the Rachael Ray Show and the music video for "Who's Going With Me" which made it to number #1 on the CMT Pure 12-Pack Countdown.

In 2009, Andrew left the Kohrs band to focus more on his teaching and recording business. He currently teaches around 50 guitar, mandolin, and bass lessons a week. He has recently been playing electric and acoustic guitar performing and opening for artists such as .38 Special, John Mayer, Eddy Money, and more. Jim Hurst has also been a major influence on Crawford, who has striven for and is known for his instrumental versatility, although  bluegrass music and guitar is where his passion remains.“I am very excited about the future of Adkins & Loudermilk,” says Andrew.

Announcements of a banjo and mandolin player will be announced soon for this projected six piece band.

 Edgar Loudermilk

Adkins and Loudermilk seem destined to have come together to form a duo. After seven years with IIIrd Tyme Out, and stints with Rhonda Vincent and Marty Raybon, Edgar joined IIIrd Tyme Out as bass player and harmony singer, as well as singing bass on gospel quartets. His vocal versatility and instrumental strength anchored the fabled band for seven years, providing solid support for the superb Russell Moore. These jobs strengthened his performance skills, but gave no outlet to his ability as a songwriter. After releasing two solo CD's (2011's "The Road Travelled" and the just released "My Big Chance Tomorrow") Loudermilk is ready step out and show his own musical chops. 

Edgar Loudermilk

 

David Adkins

Fans are blown away by the powerful and impressive vocals of singer and rhythm guitarist Dave Adkins. He lives in Elkhorn City, Kentucky and began playing and singing when he was just eight years old. Dave spent two years playing Bluegrass at Dollywood when he was seventeen. His musical background includes both country and rock and spans over twelve years. In 2010 he returned to the genre that was his first love, Bluegrass. Dave received a 2013 SPBGMA nomination as Male Vocalist of the Year in the Contemporary category. With a showcase at IBMA and an appearance at Musicians Against Childhood Cancer, and a couple of seasons touring with Republik Steel, Adkins has shown the strength of his versatile, bluesy voice and high energy performance. Combining with Edgar Loudermilk promises bluegrass informed acoustic music with a contemporary vibe that will stand out in a crowded field. Adkins solo CD "Nothin' to Lose" will be released on Mountain Fever Records in early 2014 with Loudermilk co-produced on Mountain Fever Records.

David Adkins

Adkins & Loudermilk are currently booking shows for 2014, with twenty-three currently listed on their web site, and, according to Edgar, at least thirty more in current planning stages. Both men express enormous excitement at their coming together at this time. Edgar says, “We’ve been writing for the last 7 or 8 months together, after knowing each other for while. We were both fans of each others' music. We just started writing and while it wasn’t something that was premeditated, it just unfolded due to the chemistry we had. It all just happened kind of organically and on its own after getting together to write."

Adkins & Loudermilk - Video Announcement

 

Keep an eye here for the announcement of the other two members of this new group, which will feature original songs by both men as well as new material selected from other contemporary bluegrass song writers.