Rue Farms Rustic Potato Chips have been big supporters of bluegrass music for several years now. The small, family-owned business in Springfield, OH makes home-style snacks using only the finest natural ingredients, cooked in small batch kettles in non-GMO oil for a truly tasty and superior product.
Matt and Jeanie Rue are bluegrass lovers themselves, and provide a substantial sponsorship to Joe Mullins & The Radio Ramblers to promote their products, and host bands during the summer at the farm for local grassers to enjoy. They also sponsor music events elsewhere, including the Southern Ohio Indoor Music Festivals in nearby Wilmington, OH.
Now Mountain Highway, a young family band from Lynchburg, VA, has been brought on board as sponsees. The group consists of the Glover family, in the form of dad, Joe Glover, on bass, along with his and his wife, Trish’s, four children on banjo, guitar, fiddle, and mandolin. All teens, the Glover kids are enthusiastic bluegrass pickers and singers who have only been playing this past few years.
When we spoke with Joe Glover last week, he shared a bit about this sponsorship came about, especially for such a young band.
“We first met Matt and Jeanie Rue in 2017 when we played at the Nothin’ Fancy festival. We had a great time there, and spent the next couple days hanging out with them. Jeanie really hit it off with our kids.
We stayed in touch, and then had a chance to perform at the Rue Farms festival, and at their church that same weekend last year.”
Joe says that their sponsorship is quite modest as compared to The Radio Ramblers, but that the whole family is delighted to be associated with Rue Farms.
“It’s really fun to know that we can be brand ambassadors for their products. And partial compensation with their delicious potato chips is fabulous! Being able to put our names with them and theirs with ours is a real honor.
The whole experience has been a shock, and very humbling. It is something that has to be orchestrated by God. There’s no other way.”
It shouldn’t have been so big a shock, as Mountain Highway also has received endorsements this year from Shubb Capos and GHS Strings.
The band is about to release their first CD, and Glover tells us that that they worked 100 dates last year, and have more than that for this year.
Like most family bluegrass groups, the Glovers all started learning to play bluegrass instruments thinking it would be a fun family activity. But it quickly was obvious that these youngsters had musical talent, and dad picked up the bass to complete the group.
“We started playing in nursing homes towards the end of 2016. Since then the kids have played Floyd Country Store, a good many festivals, and lots of churches. This June will be the three year anniversary of any of us picking up a musical instrument.”
Another thing they have in common with a lot of other bluegrass family bands is that the Glovers home school their children. Joe says that home schooling, and having a motor home, is essential to them pursuing music.
Here’s video of the Glovers recently at the Floyd Country Store.
You can learn more about Mountain Highway and the Glover family online.
