Bill and The Belles is a quartet based in Johnson City, TN who specialize in what they call early country music. This is the music created by rural, mostly Southern Americans, from the development of broadcast radio in the 1920s through to the post WWII era when commercial county music became more established.
It’s a delightful throwback sound created by young musicians paying tribute to the music their great-grandparents heard growing up.
They’ve released a music video of one of the songs on their debut live album, a WW1 favorite called Pal Of Mine. The song was originally released in the early 20th century as Call Me Back Pal O’Mine, written by Lawrence Perricone and Harold Dixon, and later popularized as Pal O’ Mine by Blind Willie McTell.
Here it gets more of a swingy treatment, in the Appalachian style.
Bill and The Belles are Kalia Yeagle on fiddle, Kris Truelsen on guitar, Grace Van’t Hof on banjo, and Karl Zerfas on bass.
Check out their music and performance scheduled online.
