Big Lick Bluegrass Festival - April 6 - 8, 2017: Preview

The fourteenth annual Big Lick Bluegrass Festival will run in Oakboro, NC from April 6 - 8, 2017 this year. Hosted this year by The Spinney Brothers, Big Lick is the kick-off outdoor festival for the North Carolina bluegrass season. A small festival held in a rural setting, it offers lots of jamming opportunities, strong national and regional bands, and a welcoming environment. Although the weather can get chilly this early in the season, people in this state where good bluegrass bands seem to sprout almost as thickly as the spring daffodils, there are plenty of people eager to get outside, to jam, show their stuff from an unusually varied and active Thursday open mic evening, and celebrate the coming of Spring. Promoter Jeff Branch has carefully built this small festival, bringing in national bands and finding strong local support. 

Jeff Branch

The Lineup

Open Mic

Big Lick features an unusually enjoyable open mic program on Thursday evening for early arrivals and campers coming to the festival. Some of the bands appearing have been scheduled while others are an organic growth from the pickers who have assembled in the field to jam. Such open mic programs often represent the first live performance opportunity for newly formed bands or regular local jam groups. Occasionally, such a band begins its rise to greater prominence, first regionally, and, less often, to national status. As such, open mics represent the base line of the large, and real pyramid upon which bluegrass is built.

The Wood Family Tradition

Mike Wood

The Wood Family Tradition represents another strand in the growth and development of a much larger bluegrass tradition: the family band with its roots in gospel music. Founded many years ago by family patriarch Al Wood, the current band, under the leadership of Mike Wood performs regionally in North Carolina, continuing a tradition with solid entertainment. The video below provides a sample of what they do. 

Bethel University Bluegrass Band(s)

The Bethel University Bluegrass Band has been a popular feature at Big Lick for the past three or four years. They represent the Renaissance Program of the University, located in McKenzie, TN, which is an exciting performing arts program with strong scholarship support. It's hard to profile the band(s) because the personnel changes markedly from year to year as students graduate and newcomers join the program. Usually, there are two bands at Big Lick representing less and more experienced students from the program. Such performances give them good opportunities to perform while honing their skills.

A Deeper Shade of Blue

Jim Fraley

A Deeper Shade of Blue has moved, during the time we've been watching them, from being an introductory band at the monthly meeting of a local bluegrass association (The Rivertown Bluegrass Society in Conway, SC) to beginning to reach toward national band status, with performances throughout the Southeast and on a cruise. They play traditional hard driving bluegrass, songs written from within the band, and gospel material. Some members of the band have touring experience, while others have turned down such opportunities to remain closer to home, family, and job.

Frank Poindexter

Sideline

Steve Dilling

Sideline was formed during the off season, when a group of veteran bluegrass musicians were looking for a side project to keep the sharp through the winter. Steve Dilling had just left the road for health reasons after twenty years with IIIrd Tyme Out. Skip Cherryholmes was settled in the Raleigh area and about to marry Dilling's daughter, and Jason Moore was always busy and ready to work. The band came together covering first and second generation bluegrass bands, and quickly had enough dates to justify purchasing a bus. There have been a few changes, with young Nathan Aldridge a standout on fiddle. The band, relying on experience and quality has quickly risen to national status.

Skip Cherryholmes

Nathan Aldridge

The Malpass Brothers

Christopher Malpass

The Malpass Brothers are not a bluegrass band, but they have found a home at bluegrass festivals across the country playing classic country music from the fifties through the eighties. They play electric instruments, have a drum on stage and a pedal steel. They have been welcomed, at least partly because a large proportion of the bluegrass audience has come to bluegrass because they can no longer find the country music they love on the radio. The brothers are very good on their own, and represent a welcome change of pace sound at the many bluegrass events where they perform.

Taylor Malpass

Flatt Lonesome

Charli Robertson

Buddy Robertson

Flatt Lonesome, one of the youngest major bands on the bluegrass stage today, has rocketed to prominence from their beginnings as a bluegrass gospel band playing churches and small festivals near their home in Callahan, Florida. Their close harmonies, youthful enthusiasm, and blend of bluegrass and country sounds have garnered numerous awards at both SPBGMA and IBMA in the past two or three years. They've risen fast in the bluegrass world, and show no signs of slowing down.

Paul Harrigal and Kelsi Robertson Harrigal

Junior Sisk

Interestingly, we also first saw Junior Sisk perform as lead singer with Alan Bibey and Blueridge at a Rivertown Bluegrass Society monthly meeting. His distinctive voice and shy manner set him aside as the "real deal." Fifteen years later, he continues, now as the front man of his own band, to sing his idols, the Stanley Brothers, as well as many songs written for him that sound as traditional as can be. Meanwhile, he's become a able band emcee, pulling together his skills as one of the best rhythm guitar players in bluegrass and one of finest tenor voices. 

Junior Sisk & Jason Davis

The Spinney Brothers

The Spinney Brothers have become sufficienly popular and successful at Big Lick to have been named the host band. They will be on hand throughout the festival, playing four sets from their substantial catalog as well as meeting a greeting friends and fans. Coming from the Annapolis Valley in their native Nova Scotia, they have spread their love for bluegrass and traditional country music across North America for over twenty years. 

Alan Spinney

The Details

Tickets: You can purchase Early Bird tickets until April first for $55.00. From April 1st on, tickets cost $75.00. Day Tickets are:

                             Thursday                                     Friday                            Saturday

Adult:                   $10.00                                       $30.00                              $35.00

12 - 16                  $ 5.00                                        $10.00                              $10.00

Under 12               Free                                            Free                                   Free

For Tickets Call: (704) 985-6987

Camping: There are some hookups and almost unlimited space for rough camping. There are good camping spots under trees for tent campers. Plenty of porta-johns are provided and there are fresh water stand pipes. To arrange for camping call:

Jeff Branch:                        (704) 985 - 6987

Hinson's Festival Park:      (704) 485 - 6987

Remember, this is an early April festival. Weather can be quite variable. Wise festival attendees come prepared for cold or rainy weather as well as sunny days. There are shade tents provided, and some festival goers erect easy-ups around the perimeter. 

How to Get to Big Lick at Hinson's Festival Park in Oakboro, NC:

Place Your Location in the Space Marked O

Click for personalized directions:

We always look forward to returning to North Carolina for much of April. Spring in North Carolina is filled with blossoms, warm sun, and bluegrass music. See you there. 

Big Lick Bluegrass Festival - Oakboro, NC: April 7 - 10, 2016 - Preview

The Big Lick Bluegrass Festival opens the North Carolina outdoor season in Oakboro, NC on April 7 - 9, 2016. This is a small, friendly festival featuring a good variety of national, excellent regional, and local bands plus an interesting open mic session on Thursday evening. If you have a band which would like to make an appearance at the Open Mic, call promoter Jeff Branch for more information at the number below. Check out the festival's web site for more information or call Jeff.

Lineup

Wood Family Tradition

The Wood Family Tradition apparently comes from around the Statesville area in central North Carolina. The band is descended from Al Wood and the Smoky Ridge Boys. Chris Bryant, formerly banjo player with Darin & Brooke Aldridge has joined the band on banjo. 

Bethel University Renaisance BG Band

The Renaissance program at Bethel University in McKenzie, TN provides students with a wide variety of high level experiences in the arts without requiring them to be in an arts major, making it possible for students to major in liberal arts or pre-professional areas while participating at a high level in arts programs. The bluegrass band, seen here, represents only a small part of the larger Renaissance program. The band seen in this picture will have all graduated, but the upcoming band will be entetaining as they represent their college and program. This will be their fourth consecutive year performing at Big Lick. 

Spinney Brothers
Allan Spinney

The Spinney Brothers are honest and entertaining pickers of bluegrass and classic country tunes. They select their material carefully and radiate good will and appreciation. They tour hard below the border as well as being widely known in their native Canada, where they have received a number of national awards. They have also been nominated for several IBMA awards. 

Rick Spinney

Steve Dilling & Sideline

Sideline has become a national phenomenon! Started as a side project to fill winter hours by four busy bluegrass pickers, Sideline has established itself as the most exciting cover band playing first and early second generation material around. Steve Dilling, on the mend from some health problems remains the best band emcee in the business. Young Nathan Aldridge is terrific on fiddle as he comes into his own. People will be talking about Aldridge style before it's all over. Jason Moore, Brian Aldridge and Skip Cherryholmes fill out this fine band. 

Joe Mullins & the Radio Ramblers

Joe Mullins brings his radio voice and his fine Scruggs style banjo play to a band he has built from the ground up, with each change in recent years improving it. When Jason Barrie joined the band, he provided the cement that molded it all together. Mike Terry, solid on mandolin and harmony vocals is the only other remaining original member of this very good band.

Jason Barrie & Joe Mullins

Balsam Range
Buddy Melton 

Balsam Range, IBMA Entertainer of the Year in 2014, Male Vocalist (Buddy Melton in 2014), Song of the Year twice has had a remarkable career for a band that just seemed to appear about seven or eight years ago. But their quick rise to prominence belies the deep well of experience that all  members had before they came together. One of the elements that makes them interesting is that they all come to this very interesting and entertaining group from different perspectives, leading the band to choose and create a unique, synthesized sound relying on traditional bluegrass, southern gospel, rock and roll, country and more. Don't miss this band whenever you get chance to hear them.

Marc Pruett

The Malpass Brothers (90 Minute Show)

The Malpass Brothers, Tayler and Christopher, have found a home at bluegrass festivals providing the music many fans attend bluegrass festivals for but can't hear any more live or on recording, classic country and rockabilly. By singing the work of many of the country greats of the fifties and sixties, they offer a welcome change of pace at traditional and not-so-traditional bluegrass festivals. Johnny Ridge, the powerhouse traditional bluegrass fiddler is every bit as effective bringing his driving fiddle to this enjoyable young pair of brothers. 

Johnny Ridge

Jeff Branch has assembled an increasingly varied and interesting lineup since we began attending this growing festival. 

Promoter - Jeff Branch

The Details

Early Bird Three Day Tickets unitl April 1, 2016:    $50.00

Three Day Adult Ticket after April 1, 2016               $73.00

Day Tickets: Open Mic on Thursday -                       $5.00/3.00/Free

                      Friday                                                    $28.00/10.00/Free

                      Saturday                                                $33/00/10.00/Free

For Further Information on Tickets and Camping: Call Jeff Branch at 704.985.6987

How to Get to Big Lick

Click on the Map Below then Input your address

in the space with the O and press Enter

This early Spring bluegrass festival is an excellent way to start off the outdoor season in North Carolina. It's small, unpretentious, and fun, with a friendly crowd, good vendors, lots of jamming, and good vendors. Can you beat that after a long hard winter?

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Carolina Bluegrass by Gail Wilson-Giarratano, PhD - Book Review

Carolina Bluegrass: A High Lonesome History by Gail Wilson-Giarratano, PhD (The History Press, 2015, 176 pages, $21.99/9.99) is a profusely illustrated overview of the role bluegrass music has played in the Carolinas. Author Gail Wilson-Giarratano has condensed much of the history of bluegrass music into a brief consideration and then sought to interview many of those involved in making and writing about the region's music today. The book is ambitious in its goals, yet limited in its scope, making it difficult to function as both good history and an effort to capture the role bluegrass plays in the contemporary world of Carolina music. On it's web site, The History Press describes itself as “empowering history and culture enthusiasts to write local stories for local audiences, we create exceptional books that are relevant on a local and personal level, enrich lives, and bring readers closer – to their community, their neighbors, and their past. We are committed to the pursuit of new growth opportunities and to increasing the availability, depth, and breadth of local books. Driven by genuine pride in our work and an infectious enthusiasm for what we do, we are universally dedicated to the success of our authors, employees, and stakeholders.” This title fits well into that description, but as such, seems to lose focus as a useful book for those interested in placing bluegrass into a richer and more comprehensive context. The book is best read by those who contributed to it or are written about in it, but not particularly useful for people actually wishing to learn about bluegrass in a larger world of national or regional music.

The strongest elements of Carolina Bluegrass are the interviews and profiles of people who are, or recently have been, involved at many levels in the creation and presentation of music in the two states. Some of the people profiled are major contemporary artists and personalities. Wayne Benson and Kristen Scott Benson are effectively profiled as are Cindy and Terry Baucom. Earl Scruggs gets his due, but the Earl Scruggs Center in Shelby, NC, an important center for information about Scruggs and the region, doesn't. Wilson-Giarratano is effective in identifying and providing brief profiles of musicians who function in local radio, performing and even recording situations. She spends significant time visiting several of the small, and endangered by internet commerce, music shops, many of which host much loved and long-lived local jams. She also spends time discussing local country radio stations which devote some time to bluegrass, many of which have had their lives extended through streaming internet. In doing this, the book provides a real service. Whether people from outside the region will seek out these shops and jams is another question. The focus seems to be on making sure to mention lots of names. The book could function effectively for bluegrass fans seeking to find local music during their travels in the Carolinas.

The book focuses on people who have distinguished themselves enough in the Carolinas to become recipients of cultural history awards presented by state legislatures. The winners of the South Carolina Jean Laney Harris Folk Heritage Award are all mentioned, and many are profiled as are those who have won the North Carolina Heritage Award. These state awards draw attention to local cultural history.

Gail Wilson-Giarratano

Author, Dr. Gail Wilson–Giarratano, (a native of Lancaster, SC) joined City Year Columbia on March 26, 2012. She was the President and CEO of Girls Inc. of the Greater Capital Region in Albany, NY. She has a B.A. in Education from Winthrop College, a M.S. in Early Childhood Education: Leadership & Policy from Wheelock College and a PH.D. in Applied Management & Decision Sciences. Gail is a member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc. She has a vast experience in teaching, child welfare, research, public policy, and mental health. She is thrilled to return to her home state and make strides in reducing her state’s dropout rate. Gail is committed to supporting City Year’s mission to be an education-focused nonprofit that partners with public schools to help keep students in school and on track to graduate. She has also written Drink Small: the Life and Music of South Carolina's Blues Doctor from the same publisher. (Source: mostly City Year web site.

Gail Wilson-Giarratano, PhD, author of Carolina Bluegrass: A High Lonesome History (The History Press, 2015, 176 pages, $21.99/9.99) has produced a lively, but narrowly useful overview of the history and current state of bluegrass in the two state region. For people from North and (particularly) South Carolina, Carolina Bluegrass can function as a useful resource for information and sources to hear bluegrass in the two states. For visitors eager to experience bluegrass music as a local phenomenon, it can serve the same purpose. For those seeking deeper and more nuanced views of the origins, nature, and issues within the bluegrass world, it is probably less useful, but could provide a starting point. Meanwhile, people living within the region may eagerly purchase the book to see if their name is included. I received a copy of the book from the author in return for a written response to her queries.

Gibson Family Christmas Show in Ellenburg Depot, NY - December 12, 2015

Each December for the past few years, Eric and Leigh Gibson have hosted a Gibson Family Christmas show at Northern Adirondack Central School in Ellenburg Depot, their home town in the northernmost reaches of New York State, almost to the Canadian border. On Saturday morning we headed north through Vermont and across Lake Champlain at Rouses Point. Looking right, we could see the border, which, until after 9/11 we could cross, and re-cross with only our driver's licenses. Now, what was once the world's longest un-guarded international border needs a passport to cross. We headed west on U.S. route 11 through marginal farmland and small, quiet villages. Our GPS took us onto Davison Road and in a few miles we crossed Canaan's Road, reminding us of Canaan's Hill where Sam Smith, a Civil War veteran and the central character in one of Leigh's songs, is buried. A few more miles took us to the small, comfortable home of Shannon Gibson, Leigh and Eric's mother. We were welcomed with some of her famous pie and a hot cup of coffee. We dropped our passenger and headed to our motel. 

Northern Adirondack Central School

The Gibson Family Christmas Show is not a Gibson Brothers Band show. Northern Adirondack Central School is only a few miles from the dairy farm the boys grew up on, the high school they graduated from. It's just down the road from Dick's Country Store, Gun City & Music Oasis where they bought their first instruments. Northern Adirondack Central School has a K-12 population of 812, in a thinly populated rural area. Its auditorium seats 588 people. The show was sold out way before this performance where the district's most heralded graduates never forget who they are or where they came from. This show was for the benefit of Future Farmers of America (FFA), one of the school's clubs. Their sister, Erin Gibson LaClair teaches second grade there. Half the students here come from economically disadvantaged backgrounds. This year there are 62 students in the senior class. Some people at the concert came from away, but, for the most part, this is a home town crowd who come out to spend an evening with old friends whose success they revel in. 

Leigh Gibson - Song for a Winter Evening - Video

Leigh and Eric have achieved acclaim with their award winning band, which has moved from performing in church, where they began, to playing before thousands of people in major venues and headlining at bluegrass festivals across the country and on a few trips to Europe. They currently record for Rounder Records, the gold standard for bluegrass and roots recording. But this isn't a Gibson Brothers show, it's a family gathering. Son Kelley, who's a budding singer/songwriter has begun attending college at his father and uncle's alma mater, SUNY at Plattburgh, thirty miles down the road, played and sang on several songs. 

Kelley Gibson

Mike Barber has played for the Gibson Brothers since they turned professional twenty-two years ago. His bass play is superb, driving the band with unpretentious yet challenging drive. He lives a little south of Ellenburg in a place called Jericho that isn't even on the map. Near as we can tell, it's near Altona. When not on tour, he puts a small canoe on the roof of his car and heads into the woods for some trout fishing. 

Mike Barber

Julie Hogan and Tom Venne, brother and sister whose band Beartracks is popular at festivals as well as a variety of music venues in upstate New York and nearby New England. They're a solid country and bluegrass band. They also play in a classic country band called the Clem Hawkins Revival band which gathers occasionally when Eric Gibson is available to play telecaster with them. They're versatile and enjoyable. Tom and Julie are also Mike Barber's first cousins. Julie's an elementary school guidance counselor, while the recently married Tom is retired from the U.S Border Patrol. 

Julie Hogan

Tom Venne

The Gibson Family Christmas Show - Rockin' Around the Christmass Tree - Video

Sam Zucchini serves as percussionist when Leigh and Eric perform in other settings than as the Gibson Brothers Band. We've seen him for a couple of years playing on the Family Christmas Show and appreciated his tasteful play and seamless blend with them. Ordinarily, he's a member of the highly acclaimed and very interesting Zucchini Brothers, who specialize in entertaining and educational materials aimed primarily at children. The Zucchini Brothers have a radio show heard around the world, as well as a program that they take to schools, libraries, and other venues. Check out some of their wonderful videos on YouTube. Also, pay attention to his work in the videos on this post. You won't be sorry.

Sam Zucchini

Erin Gibson LaClair, the younger sister of the Gibson brothers, has survived the ordeal with good graces far exceeding any reasonable semblance of whatever might be called for from a younger sister. Many of you have seen what Eric and Leigh good naturedly heap on each other. Her ordeal has probably turned her into one of the premier second grade teachers in America. She's also possessed of a superb singing voice that blends sublimely with her elder brothers. Their rendition of The Lighthouse is one of the most played songs on my YouTube channel, having been played well over 20,000 times. Here she sings "The Little Drummer Boy" and you'll enjoy the interactions and her spirited response.

Erin Gibson LaClair

Photo by Amy Lee

Gibson Family Christmas Show - The Little Drummer Boy - Video

Eric Gibson

Leigh Gibson

The Gibson brothers wear their fame lightly, yet always feel responsible for keeping any show they're associated with at a high level. As Saturday's show drew to a close, the merch table was crowded with old friends, each wanting so share a memory with "the boys" or to just be near old friends for a few moments. The whole evening was a great success, so much so that there's talk of doing two nights next year. 

FFA Serving Snacks During Intermission

At the Merch Table

In the Hallway