There’s a new group recently formed in East Tennessee, made up of four familiar faces on the young bluegrass scene. They take their name from a prominent ridge in the region which can bee seen driving along I-81. Welcome, everyone, to the Bays Mountain Cut-Ups!
The Cut-Ups are based around three friends who first got together in the Bluegrass, Old Time, and Roots Music program at East Tennessee State University, Ben Watlington on guitar, Colton Powers on banjo, and Max Etling on bass. After finishing college, they worked out their bluegrass internships performing at the Ole Smoky Moonshine distilleries in Gatlinburg, TN, which is a bit like attending bluegrass boot camp.
There they teamed up with mandolinist Seth Mulder, and formed the backbone of the first edition of Seth Mulder & Midnight Run. The three pals have all since moved on from Seth, and started working together as the Bays Mountain Cut-Ups, a name chosen for the fact that Powers grew up near there.
Max and Ben had been doing some gigs together of late with other friends as Etlington Enterprise, but both are now happy to have the old band back together.
Ben tells us that it feels great to launch this new project.
“Colton, Max, and I always have enjoyed playing and singing together, and we believe we do it well! This was originally Colton’s idea, but we’re equal partners in this venture.
The addition of Josh Gooding on mandolin is something we’re very excited about. His playing is very unique and full of energy. We’re super hopeful for the future of this group, and we’re going to try and play as many festivals as possible!”
No audio or video yet, I’m afraid, but you can bet that this will be a hard-charging group with a focus on original and traditional bluegrass, and a clever and witty stage show.
We hope to hear more soon from this talented new band.
