The Sons of Ralph are an Asheville institution and favorite of Black Betty's and mine. They are also the house band at Jack of the Wood. We happened to catch them there during Bele Chere weekend when they rocked down the house to the delight of the crowd.
At 83, Ralph Lewis is still going strong. Ralph jams with the boys on mandolin, guitar, and vocals. He usually plays the first set of the night and then heads home. You can tell that his sons really love him and the crowd absolutely adores him.
They play a lively blend of pure Appalachian Americana music ranging from Bluegrass to Country to Rock and Roll.
Ralph's sons Marty and Don make up the Sons of Ralph along with cousin Steve Moseley and "other brother" Ozzie Orengo Jr.
Read their bios and purchase their merchandise on their website: Sons Of Ralph
Better yet see them in person.
Bele Chere picked a winner with Railroad Earth as headliner on Saturday night at the Coxe Avenue stage. Though they were hot off the heels of Floyd Fest the band still managed to have enough energy to get the huge crowd rocking downtown Asheville. They even managed to play a couple of my favorites, Smiling Like A Buddah and Head. Todd Shaffer further endeared the band to the Asheville crowd when he channeled Jerry Garcia for the uplifting spiritual, My Sisters and Brothers.
All in all it was another great Railroad Earth show. It seemed as though there were lots of folks seeing RRE for the first time in the crowd and discovering that they really were digging them. I imagine that there will be many more hobos jumping on the train next time they come to town.
Becky, Tim Carbone, Black Betty Set List:
Walk Beside Me
Like a Buddha
420
The Jupiter and the 119
Long Walk Home
Lone Croft Farewell
Stillwater Getaway
Mourning Flies
Head
My Sisters and Brothers
E: Bringin' My Baby Back Home (with Jason Flournoy on banjo)
Black Betty and I hit Asheville for Friday night at a scaled-down Bele Chere with some hot, hot, hot, Holy Ghost Tent Revival. This rockin' roots band from Greensboro NC seems to get better each time we see them. Even with out a banjo (seems to have been short a D string) the band had the crowd whipped into an enthusiastic, dancing, sweating, frenzy. It was certainly a great start to Bele Chere 2011!
Black Betty and I managed to see an unbelievable amount of live music in 2009. Each and everyone of these groups brought joy to my heart and boogie to my hips. We also had the good fortune to attend several festivals, including, Suwanee Springfest, The French Broad River Fest, Music Camp, Bele Chere, (we made a brief foray into Floydfest) Bristol Rhythm and Roots, and MagnoliaFest. Not to even mention that we celebrated Easter Sunday with The Dead at the Greensboro Coliseum!
Here's a list of some of the bands we saw in 2009:
Larry Keel and Natural Bridge, Acoustic Syndicate, David Via, Mad Tea Party, Blueground Undergrass, David Bromberg, The Overtakers, The Dead, Emmitt Nershi Band, Mike and Ruthy,The Duhks, Donna the Buffalo, Tornado Rider, The Lee Boys, The Traveling McCourys, Jim Lauderdale, The Gourds, Seth Walker, Roy Bookbinder, Shannon Whitworth, Dread Clampitt, The Infamous Stringdusters, Snake Oil Medicine Show, Rev. Horton Heat, Rosie Ledet, Dirty Dozen Brass Band, Belleville Outfit, Casey Driesen, Railroad Earth, Peter Rowan, Mac Arnold, Ras Alan, Spiral, Vince Herman, Eliza Lynn, Cornmeal, Blue Rags, Dickie Betts, Greensky Bluegrass, Town Mountain, Golden Ticket, Ralph Rodenberry, The Hackensaw Boys, Billy and Jeni, Sam Quinn and Japan Ten, The Steel Drivers, Paleface, Scythian, The New Familiars, Songs from the Road Band, Vince Herman, Holy Ghost Tent Revival, Trampled by Turtles, Guy Clark, and many others. Wow!
Here's to a great 2010, hope the music never stops.
Keep on dancin' thru the daylight, Greet the mornin' air with song No ones's noticed, but the band's all pack and gone. Was it ever there at all? But they keep on dancin' C'mon children, C'mon children, Come on clap your hands Well the cool breeze came on Tuesday, And the corn's a bumper crop And the fields are full of dancin' Full of singin' and romancin' The music never stopped. -Barlow/Weir
Last Saturday we caught legendary blues man Mac Arnold at Bele Chere Festival in Asheville. During his career Mac played, toured, and recorded with the best blues singers around: Muddy Waters, BB King, John Lee Hooker, Eric Clapton, Paul Butterfield, and lots more. In his retirement Mac returned to South Carolina, where he is an organic farmer and tours with his band, Plate Full O' Blues.
In this video, Mac is playing one of his famous gas can guitars that his brother Leroy learned to make as a boy in the 1940's.
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