Austria’s Loser Mountain Boys have announced a new member, the youngest in the band’s 40 year tenure.
Patrick Schut, the 12 year old son of co-founder Denis Schut, has joined the group on lead guitar. He is taking the spot filled by Johannes Pressl, who started the band with Dennis in the early ’80s. Johannes was fiddler with the group, and is being forced to step aside due his many other career responsibilities.
Young Patrick is also a fine banjo and mandolin player, as well as a strong singer, who had grown up performing with the Schut Family Bluegrass Band since he was old enough to hold a guitar.
Dennis has been a figure in European bluegrass for quite some time, having brought Charlie Moore over for tours in 1976 and 1979, while playing guitar with him on stage. Schut’s earlier band, Spruce Pine, had toured throughout Europe at that time, and supported Jim Eanes on three visits to the continent.
While the band name strikes a humorous note to English speakers, they are actually named for Der Loser, a mountain that looks down on the town of Bad Aussee in the Styria province of Austria where they live. There they are known as Die Loser Mountain Boys.
Though Patrick will surely hate this, here is a video of him with the Schut Family Bluegrass Band when he was about 8 years old.
What a natural performer! We look forward to seeing more of The Loser Mountain Boys with Patrick on lead guitar.
