Rich is a musical man about town who, in addition to providing a solid musical foundation to the High 48s hard-driving bluegrass sound, keeps a busy performance schedule, lending his doghouse skills to a wide range of musical situations.
Before joining the High 48s, Eric Christopher worked as a fiddler-for-hire, performing, recording and/or sitting in with dozens of Americana and alternative country acts, including the, Bellwether, Tina Schlieske, Tim Easton and Vic Chesnutt, and touring with Rounder Records artist The James King Band. Eric is currently keeping up a busy touring schedule, performing with The High 48s and Tangled Roots.
Tony Ihrig (banjo)
Tony is a former drummer who brought his rock-solid timing to the banjo and helped form the Midwestern newgrass band Free Range Pickin'. His unique rhythmic banjo style and songwriting skills have helped earn him radio play in Nashville and a review in Bluegrass Unlimited.
Chad Johnson (mandolin, vocals)
Chad was a rock bassist until he experienced a moment of clarity while watching Ronnie McCoury pick with Del and the boys. Since then he's been picking bluegrass mandolin and singing with his brother Derek Johnson.
Derek Johnson (guitar, vocals)
Derek worked as a rock/alternative country musician and music promoter in Minneapolis for ten years before he was born again as bluegrass picker. Since his conversion, Derek (a.k.a. Ironlung) has been picking his Martin and lending his powerful tenor voice to duets with his brother Chad.
Influences
(MySpace Layout based on the helpful hacks of Mike Davidson.)
In two short years, the High 48s have earned an enthusiastic and growing audience in the Midwest, garnered a 2008 win at the Rockygrass Band Competition in Lyons, CO, and released two critically acclaimed CDs – their self-titled debut and this year’s Who Needs Love?
The High 48s, who take their name from the boxcars on fast-moving “hot shot” freight trains, play bluegrass in the traditional style, with close three-part harmonies sung around a single microphone. But unlike many traditional bluegrass bands working the festival circuit today, the High 48s don’t draw their material exclusively from the hallowed back catalogs of bluegrass’s “first generation,” artists such as Bill Monroe, Flatt and Scruggs, and Jimmy Martin. The High 48s focus instead on writing original material that combines the soul and drive of first-generation bluegrass with the harder-edged sound of alternative country and roots rock. It’s a style of music the band calls “hard ‘grass.”
Most of the band members turned to traditional bluegrass relatively late in their musical lives, after years spent working with rock, alternative country and progressive acoustic artists. Before joining their first bluegrass band, the now-defunct Boot Draggers, Derek Johnson (guitar, vocals) and his younger brother Chad (mandolin, vocals) played in the Twin Cities-based rock band Best Fight Story. Eric Christopher (fiddle, vocals) worked as a fiddler-for-hire, performing, recording and/or sitting in with dozens of Americana and alternative country acts, such as the Buck-Fifty Boys, Bellwether, Tina Schlieske, Tim Easton and Vic Chesnutt. Eric is currently keeping up a busy touring schedule, dividing his time between the High 48s and Rounder Records artists the James King Band. Tony Ihrig (banjo, dobro) came to the 48s from the progressive bluegrass scene, and is also currently a member of the local newgrass quartet Free Range Pickin'. Rich Casey (bass, vocals), a longtime working bass player, has performed with a number of artists from the local jam band scene, including Javier Trejo and the White Iron Band.
The High 48s will be making the transition to touring nationally and beginning work on their follow-up to Who Needs Love? We are currently booking dates for 2009 and beyond. Please inquire for rates and availability.
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Thank you
Hello, it's me, Ruby Jane.To those who don't know me, I am a 14 year old fiddler, songwriter. I have some songs posted that are fresh out of the studio. Let me know if you like the new songs..be one of the first to hear, even before they are released!Thanks! new videos too! Ruby Jane
Catch
That Rockabilly Fever by Sheree Homer is a candid account of life on the
road and in the studio with '50s legends and today's talent. These are personal
stories told by the artists themselves. It's a soft cover biography that will
be published in October 2009 by McFarland Publishers and retail for $39.95. It
will have never before seen photos (strictly 1950's photos of the legends) and
rare stories from the artists themselves. Catch
That Rockabilly Fever will be approximately 350 pages in length. It will be
unlike any other rockabilly book on the market since it will include some of
today's hottest young talent plus insightful stories from 1950's backing
musicians and engineers for the first time, such as James Kirkland (Bob Luman,
Ricky Nelson), Richie Frost (Ricky Nelson), Steve Handford (Bobby Lee
Trammell), Tony Austin (Rock and Roll Trio), Stanley Walker (Ray Smith), Bobby
Poe (Wanda Jackson), Vernon Sandusky (Big Al Downing) and Bob Sullivan
(KWKH/Louisiana Hayride). Foreword by acclaimed writer Ken Burke.
These forty-six artists will have individual profiles and one
glamorous photo per musician: Glen Glenn, Lew Williams, Art Adams, Elvis
Presley, Ricky Nelson, Bob Luman, Ed Bruce, Dickey Lee, Jack Earls, Hayden
Thompson, Maddox Brothers and Rose, Sonny Burgess, Carl Mann, Ray Smith, Johnny
Powers, Larry Donn, Pat Cupp, Ronnie Hawkins, Bobby Lee Trammell, Huelyn
Duvall, Gene Summers, Sonny West, Buddy Holly, The Collins Kids, Wanda Jackson,
Charlie Gracie, Big Al Downing, Laura Lee Perkins, The Rock and Roll Trio,
Narvel Felts, The Dave and Deke Combo, Kim Lenz, Go Cat Go, High Noon, Larry
Cole, Cari Lee Merritt, Josie Kreuzer, Eddie Clendening, Suzy and Buddy Dughi,
The Casey Sisters, Carl Sonny Leyland, Dawn Shipley, Sue Moreno, Ruby Ann, and Tex
Rubinowitz.
Had a good time playing with you guys a few weeks back at Glacier! We're just about to release our debut album, we invite you to check it out online...
High! Pablo here, reporting from Inner Space to wish you a great 2009! (we interrupt this comment with a brief announcement): The New Psychedelic Masterpiece "Take Two" Is Here! (16 tracks of sugar coated insanity) Hear 4 new songs! (P.S. the new album is best appreciated on a higher plane....;))
Hi High 48s, I really like your music. Thank you for the add. Greetings from England. Take a look at my new video of The Writing on the Wall from my 2008 acoustic album, Beyond the Blues. Quote from the wall: ‘Never, never, never give up’ (Winston Churchill) Thanks, Steve
You guys play it smooth and hard and we dig it. Keep that fine music coming. It was good to meet a few of you back at the Harvest Jamboree. Looking forward to meeting again down the road.
Online Now!
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