ROCKLEDGE band members are: Darrell Slone-Banjo; Mark Clifton-Dobro; Lynn Healey-Guitar; Bradley Sams-Bass
BANJO: DARRELL SLONE
Darrell Slone grew up in Athens, Ohio. Since his teens Darrell first played guitar, then banjo. Darrell has played with several DC area bands including Virginia Hills. Darrell's expressive approach is apparent in his singing as well as in his playing. His affinity for the Earl Scruggs style shows in his own traditional yet innovative style.
RESONATOR GUITAR: MARK CLIFTON
Mark Clifton was born and reared in Roanoke, Virginia and graduated from Shenandoah Conservatory. During his career as a professional trumpet player, Mark was inspired to play resonator guitar by his dad, who played Dobro. Mark also currently performs with the Country Gentlemen Tribute Band.
GUITAR: LYNN HEALEY
Lynn Healey is a native of Washington, DC and has focused on driving bluegrass rhythm guitar. She has won awards in vocal competitions and is a three-time WAMA nominee for best bluegrass vocalist. Lynn was a founding member of Orange Line Special, and is a member of the Blue Moon Cowgirls.
BASS: BRADLEY SAMS
Bradley Sams, from Annapolis, MD, is a dedicated bluegrass bass player whose talents are continuously in demand in the DC and Baltimore area. He was a founding member of the legendary Foggy Bottom bluegrass band. Bradley also currently performs with Windy Ridge bluegrass band.
Influences
ROCKLEDGE bluegrass music style is an evolving blend of the sounds of Flatt and Scruggs, DC area bluegrass pioneers and country church harmonies.
Sounds Like
ROCKLEDGE music... which is like hand churned butter! ...Real ingredients, smooth and blended. We love clean pickin' and lots of tight harmony singin'.
ROCKLEDGE band members are veteran bluegrass musicians, each having had the privilege of performing with talented bluegrass bands in the DC area over the years. We met at bluegrass jams and found that we all have the same sense of bluegrass rhythm, style, harmonies, and creativity. We respect and love traditional bluegrass structure and its development. We became friends, and in 2005, we started getting together for picking sessions in each others' living rooms and basements just for grins. We discovered our distinct sound and we were inspired to "take it on the road." Our first gig was to be an outdoor show at Rockledge Mansion in Occoquan, VA. Even though the gig was rained out, the band name ROCKLEDGE survived. We enjoy playing music together and people tell us it shows. We like our audiences to enjoy our music as much as we do. We're proud and honored to be a part of the rich heritage of bluegrass music in the Washington DC area.
We play for private parties and events and we are happy to custom prepare our show. We perform bluegrass gospel or traditional secular bluegrass or both, according to the event. Contact us through the "Send Message" link on our Myspace home page. We use our Myspace page (Myspace.com/rockledgebluegrass) as our website.
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Darrell, Bradley, Mark and Lynn are the gracious hosts of the Bluegrass Open-Mic on Wednesday evenings at Fireflys in DelRay, Alexandria, Va. They really make you part of the band and adapt well to everyone who wants to sing and play. I hope they can continue their gig there for a long time - all of them are knowledgeable and talented pickers/players. Thanks for the Add, Bruce.
you guys sounded great last night. my wife lisa said ( because i was facing away from the stage and couldn't see you--) you should see her playing guitar, she's playing in this strange style i've never seen before. i told her, it's probably flatpicking backup, and lisa said, oh, flatpicking-- i think i've heard you mention that before. i didn't tell her that, although i've spent many hundreds of hours working on my own flatpicking at home, when i do it it looks different from what lynn is doing because i can't do it as fast! (i took a ton of lessons from orrin star, and have worked on my flatpicking a lot, but i can't cut it at the bluegrass fast tempos. playing "fiddle tunes" made my electric playing a lot better though, and definitely helped prepare me for the kind of stuff we play in "honky tonk heart. ")
