The Country Gentlemen Show at the 2024 Howlin’ at the Moon Music Fest – photo © Bill Warren
The 2024 edition of Howlin’ at the Moon was a howlin’ success! The festival has moved to the Howard Johnson Hotel and Conference Center in Lima, Ohio. Brad and Lori Lambert filled the common area with vendors of all sorts, and the Grand Ballroom was the stage show room. This event pretty much marks the end of the northern bluegrass festival circuit and always draws a good crowd.
Lori wore a lot of hats including the MC hat. I filled in a couple times when she was called to other duties.
GBS Sound (Dave and Traci Chichester) provided the live audio. They are considered one of the best sound companies in the genre. Lori was complimenting them at the end of the show when Dave hit her with a squeal to the delight of the audience.
Several Ohio bands entertained the crowd. The first was The Awesome Darlings. These four guys have played together for many years with a mix of traditional bluegrass and country music.
Ottawa County was up next, fronted by brothers Joe Jr. and Dennis Mitchell. They are popular in the tri-state area also playing bluegrass and country music.
Kevin Prater brought his band to the show for two days. Kevin also wore several hats over the weekend He did a set of music with his band each day. Then he was part of the “Opry Jam” on Friday night and the Eagles tribute on Saturday night. Bailey Moore is playing Kevin’s banjo in the band, and he explained that the instrument is special to him in that he watched an old friend build it. The band will be in Michigan at the Kentuckians in Romulus on Friday November 1.
Authentic Unlimited hit the stage wide open and performed for nearly two hours. They are all excellent musicians and more excellent people who have been helping with hurricane relief efforts in Tennessee. Santa and Mrs. Santa joined them on stage to tell about Lori and Brad’s efforts to help children have a Merry Christmas in their part of Ohio. Santa and Jerry Cole had a discussion as Jerry had a couple questions for Santa. He wanted to know where the sleigh with its bag of goodies was parked, and if Rudolph was with him. Santa kept that information close to the vest!
Friday night closed out with the aforementioned “Opry Jam.” The stage was full of musicians having a fun time: Gil Benson and Mallory Hindman on fiddles, Matt Leadbetter on rest-guitar, Daniel Oxendine on banjo, Kevin Prater on guitar, Lori on bass, and Dalton Smith on mandolin. Tom Feller joined Lori and Brad with a stirring rendition of Atlanta is Burning. Tamara Brescol stepped in on bass and sang some harmony. Jerry Cole also joined Brad and Lori for a tune.
Union Town based out of Georgetown, Ohio opened the Saturday show. The band is comprised of Gil Benson on fiddle, Phil Lawrence on mandolin, Seth Carkeek on guitar, Caleb Rankin on bass, and Ahmad Magethe on banjo. Caleb just turned 18 and is already a strong singer of traditional bluegrass.
Won Peace is primarily a bluegrass gospel group based in Ohio withs Chris Atkins on banjo, Richard Culver on dobro, Joe Coleman on bass, and Gary Duncan on guitar. They play a good mix of gospel and secular bluegrass music.
New Outlook billed their show as having special guests, who all turned out to be former band members. I call that a reunion show, and they agreed with me. The band was Brad and Lori along with current member Brian Scott on mandolin, and former members Jeff Hardin on fiddle, Duane Sparks on guitar, and Matt Leadbetter on dobro. The result was a trip down memory lane. A lot of the crowd had seen some of the different configurations of the band and made requests from those days.
Kevin Prater’s band made the second day appearance. Both Mallory Hindman and Bailey Moore sang lead on a couple tunes. It is good to see youngsters singing traditional bluegrass music.
The Country Gentlemen Show (formerly The Country Gentlemen Tribute Band) put on two strong sets of music. They continue to honor the original Country Gentlemen while developing some of their own music. It’s always a popular show.
The festival closed out with an “Eagles Acoustic Tribute” show. Matt Leadbetter was on reso-guitar, Kevin Prater on bass, Andy Brogan on lead vocals, Brian Scott on drums, Lori on vocals, Curtis Oyler on mandolin, and Brad on lead guitar. Brad played a tune on a 12 string guitar that previously belonged to a close cousin. His family gave the guitar to Brad who completely refurbished it, so it is special to him. Tom Feller helped with vocals to end the show.
Lori already has most of the lineup for next year booked and has started selling advanced tickets. Plan on October 24 and 25, 2025.
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