The Mandolin Farms Bluegrass Festival in Flemingsburg, KY will host a reunion performance by NewFound Road, featuring the original band members, on August 3.
The group, which formed about this time back in 2001, was largely based around the singing of Tim Shelton. When they started, their focus was bluegrass Gospel, though the material gradually secularized over the years with Gospel still remaining an important part of their sound. In 2013, NewFound Road disbanded though they have done a few previous reunion shows.
Original members Shelton (guitar), Rob Baker (mandolin), Jr. Williams (banjo), and Tim Caudill (bass) have not appeared as a unit on stage for more than ten years, and all of them are excited about putting the old band back together, at least for a day. Final banjo man Josh Miller will also join them for the reunion set.
During their career the band recorded three albums for Rounder, and three before that for Mountain Home.
Here’s an older video of the group from 2008 after Randy Barnes came onboard following Caudill departure and Justin Moses sitting in on reso-guitar, doing Tom T Hall’s That’s How I Got To Memphis.
Since the breakup of NewFound Road, Shelton has been touring with Clay and Brennan Hess as The Surly Gentlemen, and creating and promoting his podcast which he says finds him sharing thoughts about music and life with special guests.
“The Tim Shelton Podcast has grown into a real passion of mine. I’ve been able to interview and talk with not only musicians like Ron Block, Rhonda Vincent, Barry Bales and a host of others, but also a comedian, MMA fighter and entrepreneurs from various walks of life. There are listeners literally all over the globe at this point, and the audience grows each month. It’s available for free download on iTunes and Stitcher.”
Shelton says that a debut Surly Gentlemen album is in the works.
Anyone interested in booking a NewFound Road Reunion show, or The Surly Gentlemen, can contact Tim by email.
