South Carolina’s Tugalo Holler is delighted to officially welcome guitarist Joseph Welborn to the band.
The Georgia native and resident has been around bluegrass music all his life. Jospeh began on fiddle, and played with his dad Jimmy Welborn’s gospel bluegrass group, The Journeymen, before switching to guitar at 16. He really developed his musicianship performing at the Bluegrass Express in downtown Hartwell, GA, where they have music on Saturday nights.
It was at the Express where he first met up with Tugalo Holler, and both Joseph and Jimmy have been friends with the band since the early aughts. In fact, Joseph has been their first call fill in for the past 20 years. Now it’s official – he’s the guitarist in the group.
Welborn says he pumped to join Tugalo Holler.
“I would like to think my lord and savior for giving me the ability to play music, and also a big thanks to my Dad for introducing me to music and giving me that bug to want to play. I’ve played with several local bands filling in on guitar, but never had a set band except The Journeymen. Now, I’m super excited to be with Tugalo Holler!”
He joins Cape Guthrie on banjo, Dennis James on mandolin, Porkchop Branch on bass, Stephen Hudson on fiddle, and Jessica Hudson on vocals.
Here’s a recent video from the Grambling Bluegrass Festival of them doing the gospel favorite Hallelujah I’m Ready To Go.
You can keep up with their performance schedule by visiting Tugalo Holler online.
