In 2007 Lonesome River Band celebrates 25 years in Bluegrass as one of the most popular and influential acts on the bluegrass festival and concert circuit. They have not looked back since the release of their breakout CD, Carrying The Tradition, in 1991, which included current LRB band leader Sammy Shelor, as well as Dan Tyminski, Ronnie Bowman and Lonesome River Band founder, Tim Austin. They recorded a second project for Rebel Records, Old Country Town, before Tyminski accepted a gig with Alison Krauss & Union Station, and Austin decided to leave the road to focus on his recording studio, Doobie Shea.
Like any band whose success has endured for 25 years, Lonesome River Band has seen some very talented musicians come and go. One readily thinks of acts like The Country Gentlemen, Seldom Scene, Doyle Lawson & Quicksilver, or JD Crowe & the New South as examples of successful bluegrass bands whose lineup has undergone a number of complete changes over the years, while still retaining the distinctive sound that brought them their success. As LRB continues to record and perform bluegrass music with both critical and commercial success, their name deserves mention in that list as well.
During this last 15 years, Shelor has enjoyed performing in Lonesome River Band with such stellar musicians as Kenny Smith, Don Rigsby, Ron Stewart, Rickie Simpkins and Mike Hartgrove - each of whom has moved on to pursue other musical endeavors. With each personnel change, Shelor has looked for a new musician who could not only fill a spot that had been left vacant, but also bring in an artist with something to add of their own.
When Shelor joined Lonesome River Band in 1990, he never envisioned himself leading the band only ten years later. Fresh off a six year stint with the popular Virginia Squires, Sammy came on board along with Ronnie Bowman. When founder Tim Austin left in 1995 to focus on his studio, Sammy and Ronnie Bowman took over band management, and when Ronnie left in 2000, Shelor found himself in charge, leading the band that had hired him fifteen years earlier.
Through changes in vocalists and rhythm sections, the constant in the wildly popular LRB sound has been Shelor’s insistent, driving banjo style. His peers in the International Bluegrass Music Association have voted him Banjo Player of the Year on four separate occasions. Banjo pickers all over the world have studied Sam’s tab books and instructional DVD from AcuTab.
Shelor got an early start with the banjo, when his grandfather fashioned him a banjo from an old pressure cooker lid when Sam was only four years old. His other grandfather then issued a challenge, promising to buy him a real banjo if the young Shelor would learn to play two songs. Sam met that mark in short order, and with the help of a family devoted both to him and to bluegrass music, he soon found himself entered in contests at fiddler’s conventions near his home in southwestern VA.
By age ten, he was performing in local bands and became a full time professional musician when he graduated from high school, joining The Heights Of Grass at age 19. That band eventually morphed into The Virginia Squires, and brought Sammy into contact with banjo legend Sonny Osborne, who helped shape the young picker’s approach to working as a pro banjo player. Sonny also showed Sam the importance of using a quality instrument, and introduced him to the sound of the pre war flathead Gibson banjos that are now so highly prized by banjo players all over the world.
Lonesome River Band consists of Mike Hartgrove on Fiddle, Brandon Rickman doing Lead Guitar and Vocals, Andy Ball playing Mandolin and Lead Vocals, Mike Anglin playing the Bass. These outstanding players bring a wealth of talent and energy to the quarter century year old Lonesome River Band.
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hey wats up i absolutley love listenin to u guys i cant wait till the sally gap festival in Kentucky!!! bought 2 CDs from you all last time and have wore them out trying to learn your songs
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Christian
Editor & Journalist for Country Music Christian Lamitschka An der Pfingstweide 28 61118 Bad Vilbel Germany Phone: ++49 6101 544613 Mobil: ++49 171 6903352 Ch.Lamitschka@t-online.de Info@CountryMusic-Magazin.de www.MySpace.com/ChristianLamitschka
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