Hunter Berry Archives - Bluegrass Today

Little Roy & Lizzy Show welcomes new members

Little Roy and Lizzy are saying goodbye to one band mate, and hello to two more. Guitarist, Will Eller, is stepping down. John Gooding, brother to the Little Roy & Lizzy Show’s mandolinst, Josh Gooding, will be their new guitarist. Well-known and well-loved fiddler, Hunter Berry, is also officially joining their ensemble.

Will Eller posted on Facebook…

“Many of you know that since May of last year, I have been playing guitar with the Little Roy & Lizzy Show. As all good things must come to an end, so has my time on the road. I will no longer be performing with the Little Roy and Lizzy Show. It’s been a huge learning experience for me, and I’ve had the biggest of times. Thanks to all the fans and friends that I’ve met over the past nine months. I’m awfully grateful to have been able to play across the country and see people and places I never would have dreamed of. It’s been a good ride.”

Hunter Berry shared, “I’m looking forward to playing fast driving music this summer with The Little Roy & Lizzy Show. Lizzy is a powerhouse musician and vocalist, and Little Roy is the fastest traditional banjo player on the circuit. The energy from this entertaining group is infectious and inspiring.”

As he enters the group, John Gooding said that he is also rarin’ to go. “I’m excited to be playing music with people I’ve looked up to for a long time, and it’s an added bonus to be playing music with my brother again. I cannot wait to get on the road with Roy and Lizzy!”

Speaking for Little Roy and herself, Lizzy said that they feel very good about this outfit.

“We are really looking forward to John and Hunter joining us. Hunter has been a lifelong friend of mine, and coming to help us as long as he can is a dream. John is also a blessing. Having family harmony and another Gooding in the band is gonna be a ride!

Will was a great asset and help to us, but like all things in life, change is inevitable. Will is a great friend and worker and we wish him the best.”

You can keep up with all the comings and goings of the Little Roy & Lizzy Show online.

Near miss for Hunter Berry in South Carolina

The world of touring musicians always looks a bit glamorous from the audience side of the stage, but when you get to know some of the artists who do it for a living, it becomes clear that it is a difficult life as well. The amount of travel they endure is taxing, not to mention the risks associated with being on the road so much.

That reality hit home in a big way last night for Hunter Berry, completely unassociated with his regular travel as fiddler with Rhonda Vincent & The Rage.

He was involved in a serious accident on Interstate 26 in South Carolina that caused tremendous damage to his SUV, but left him fit as a fiddle.

When we caught up with Hunter a little while ago to get more details, he was in an ebullient mood.

“Today is a good day, John,” was the first thing out of his mouth.

Berry was almost halfway home from Myrtle Beach last night, in Spartanburg, SC, when a truck eased into his lane, forcing his vehicle into the median and across into the oncoming traffic lanes. But he says that angels held the car on the road and saved his life in what could have been a deadly accident.

Let’s let him tell the story…

“I had been in Myrtle Beach visiting my sister. Last night, as she was going in to work graveyard, I decided to head on home.

As I was getting near Spartanburg, this trucker fell asleep, or was just about falling asleep. I was in the left hand lane passing him, and about half way through he started coming over. There wasn’t any road rage or anything, and I don’t think he meant to do it.

I had cruise set on 80, and was singing along with There Is A God by Lee Ann Womack. That version has duet harmony, so I was singing the third part.

When he came over, I hit the median, and briefly put my foot on the brake. But once I was in the median I lost control. So I just focused on trying to keep the car stable. It ran through and over the cable guard rail, and busted the windshield. I ended up in the opposite lane, and would have been facing oncoming traffic if there had been any at that time of night.”

Berry said that his front end was bashed in, but he was able to get back into the proper lane and wait for a tow truck. The truck that forced him into the median just kept right on going. The tow truck driver took him to a hotel for the night.

When we spoke, he was on his way home in a rental car.

“Don’t you know I’m watching every other vehicle on the road today! And I’m doing 70 instead of 80.

I’m really surprised I didn’t flip the car. It’s a Nissan Armada SUV. I guess I’m just lucky that the wheels didn’t get turned so that it flipped.

The amazing thing is, I didn’t get a single scrape or bruise. The air bags didn’t even go off!”

People who know Hunter realize that he is more than just an exceptional fiddler and a natural entertainer. He is a man of faith, full of life and good humor, but he drifted between tears and joy while we spoke, recognizing just how close he had come to the end.

“It was an ordeal to go through – I was really shaken up. But it’s an opportunity to remember to take every moment in life and cherish it, and not take anything for granted.

I’ve been smiling and crying all day long. A buddy of mine told me on the phone this morning that God has something left for me to do yet. I’ll never stop being thankful for surviving this.”

Hunter will get home this evening, only to head back out this weekend for shows with the band. Rhonda has a concert on Friday night at the Cleveland County Fairgrounds in Shelby, NC, drive-in style. Then on Saturday it’s right back to Myrtle Beach for the Ocean Lakes Campground Bluegrass Weekend.

Whew… Drive carefully everybody!

Cardboard In Her Shoes – Dave Yates

Dave Yates’ 4-song EP, Cardboard In Her Shoes, has got East Tennessee written all over it.

Of course Yates himself is on the faculty in the East Tennessee State University’s bluegrass music program, and has plied his trade as a singer, songwriter and instrumentalist in the area for years. Fellow faculty members Adam Steffey and Hunter Berry also contribute to the project, as do ETSU graduates Tim Stafford and Barry Bales.

But there’s an East Tennessee sensibility overall in this primarily songwriter-oriented album. If you’ve spent much time in the general area running roughly from Bristol to Knoxville, you know how rich the region is in bluegrass talent. With so much music and so many pickers in the area, it’s that much easier for young people to become familiar with it, generating even more players and fans as the circle grows ever outward.

This is the environment Dave grew up in, and now his career involves teaching the music to eager young members of this next generation.

The four numbers included here highlight his strength as a songwriter, covering several of the recognized sub-genres in bluegrass. The title track, and debut single is a classic mama song, but with the added benefit of being inspired by a true story about Dave’s own mother, and the sacrifices she made to bring her boys up with what they needed.

Orphan Child is a perfect example of the destitute child format, long popular in bluegrass and old time music. Rolling along in three quarter time, it sounds like a forgotten favorite from a 1930s radio songbook. Rob Ickes’ dobro serves as the ideal counterpoint to this simple melody, sung as a duet between Yates and Darrell Webb, another East Tennessean.

The flatpicking tune is another standard form in acoustic music, and with Kansas Wind David demonstrates his mastery of the instrument. This one bears a heavy Stafford influence, as perhaps it must. Tim and Dave are longtime friends, and Stafford served as producer on the project.

Lastly, in what is the standout track on the EP, Dave all but assembles Blue Highway in the studio for a song he wrote with Stafford and Bobby Starnes called Million Dollar Man. Wayne Taylor sings lead with Shawn Lane singing tenor on this tale of a man that makes it to the top of the music charts, only to lose it all to “the devil and George Dickel.” Yates plays lead guitar with Stafford on rhythm. Look for this one to show up on radio before long.

Dave isn’t what you would call an especially facile or versatile singer, but what there may be lacking in “Male Vocalist of the Year” qualities is made up for with expressiveness and conviction. When he sings about his mama or the little orphan child, you believe him right away.

Despite the lack of banjo, Cardboard In Her Shoes should find a ready audience among bluegrass lovers. There’s no 1-4-5 drive, but plenty of sincerity and “real life” truth in the sensitive lyrics.

The album is available from Dave’s web site, and from CD Baby and other popular online resellers.

Hunter Berry live in Hiltons

Bluegrass fans got an inside look at the recording process this past Sunday, November 24, when Hunter Berry gathered some of his closest and most talented friends at the Carter Family Fold in Hiltons, Virginia to record a new, live album. Along with his bandmates in Rhonda Vincent and the Rage, his wife Sally, and mandolin player extraordinaire Adam Steffey, Berry showed those in attendance not only his musical talents, but a side of the music business many never get to experience.

The first sign that things were a little different than a normal Carter Fold show (besides the chairs set up on what is usually the dance floor) was the opening applause recording. Audience members were asked for applause three times, showing (as Berry jokingly put it) various degrees of appreciation for the band. The show then proceeded a little slower than most bluegrass concerts, with the band members taking time to get song introductions and opening notes just right, sometimes stopping and replaying if necessary. It was easy to see that the band was taking care to ensure that Berry’s record turned out just right.

Berry shared the stories behind most of the songs the band played, telling why he chose to include them on the album, where he first heard them, and even recognizing those who had suggested he record them. He also took the time to thank and recognize several audience members who helped him in his journey to becoming a musician, while Rhonda Vincent told the audience about her first encounter with Berry, while he was playing with Melvin Goins. Vincent said any time that he wasn’t performing, he was backstage playing with and talking to everyone there – already showing the enthusiasm for bluegrass and fiddling that fans of the Rage know so well.

Highlights of the show included a fun version of Jimmy Martin’s Tennessee with Mickey Harris on lead and Berry coming in low on the chorus with the bass vocals, Josh Williams’ earnest take on John Hartford’s In Tall Buildings, and the always-enjoyable “bluegrass greatest hits” instrumental medley that Rhonda Vincent and the Rage perform during their live shows. Berry even strapped on a mandolin for the closing song, a rousing You Don’t Love God, If You Don’t Love Your Neighbor.

Berry has plans to release his live album early next year, and if the audience response from the Carter Fold is any indicator, his fans should enjoy it. For more information on Hunter Berry, visit his website at www.hunterberrymusic.com.

Hunter Berry to cut live album at Carter Fold

Hunter Berry, fiddle player and larger-than-life personality with Rhonda Vincent & The Rage, is set to record a live album on November 24, 2013 at The Carter Fold in Hiltons, VA. This special show will be staged at 3:00 p.m. (EST), billed as Hunter Berry & Friends featuring Rhonda Vincent & The Rage.

This will be Hunter’s first solo project since his Wow Baby CD in 2007. It will be tracked live with Rhonda and the Rage, with the addition of Adam Steffey on mandolin.

Hunter tells us that while he hasn’t nailed down every song they plan to cut just yet, the wider outline is set as a mix of vocals and fiddle numbers. So far, he will be fiddling on Black Mountain Rag, Sally Garden, and Me Too (a new tune of his), with several Ragers contributing vocally. Rhonda will sing one or two, though they haven’t finalized which of several they will be. Josh Williams will sing the Norman Blake classic, Ginseng Sullivan, and Going To Work In Tall Buildings from John Hartford. Rage bassist Mickey Harris will sing Jimmy Martin’s Tennessee – with Hunter contributing bass vocal. Sally Berrry, Hunter’s wife and Rhonda’s daughter, is also expected to voice one for the recording.

This will be a self-produced project which Berry says he expects will be available early in the new year.

Tickets to the special afternoon show on the 24th are available from the Carter Fold online. Adult admission is $10, $5 for ETSU students (with ID) and ages 7-11, with children under 6 admitted for free.

An assurance for those familiar with the venue: no dancing will be allowed during Hunter’s live show.

Doyle Lawson at ETSU

There are not many music genres in which fans are able to consistently interact with their heroes face-to-face, and even less where stars and legends will willingly sit down and talk or play music with fans. Thankfully, bluegrass is one of those genres. It’s not uncommon for some of the most popular musicians to be found out in the crowd or backstage after a show, picking and talking like they were with old friends.

This past Thursday night (March 28^th), numerous students and faculty from East Tennessee State University’s Bluegrass, Old Time, and Country Music Studies got to have one of these experiences when Doyle Lawson was honored at the program’s 10^th Annual Spring Celebration.

Each spring, the top bluegrass, old time, country, and Celtic bands at ETSU are showcased in a concert at the Paramount Center for the Arts in Bristol, TN. Concerts often feature a nationally touring band as a special guest (past performers have included Blue Highway and the Boxcars). This year, Lawson, who grew up just outside of the Tri-Cities, was the guest of honor.

After performances by numerous student ensembles, Lawson took stage with a band consisting of ETSU faculty and students, including two of his former band members (Hunter Berry on fiddle and Jason Leek contributing harmony vocals). Students Josh Argo (guitar and vocals), Josh Riffe (bass), and Gary Hultman (dobro), faculty member Brandon Green (banjo), and advisory board member Tim Stafford (guitar and vocals) rounded out the group. They performed a short set consisting of a few bluegrass standards, as well as the Quicksilver classic Julianne, and By the Waters of the Clinch, an original instrumental which can be found on Lawson’s latest release.

In recognition of his long career and his influence on several generations of bluegrass musicians, Bluegrass, Old Time, and Country Music Studies director Daniel Boner presented Lawson with a letter signed by all of the student and faculty performers at the concert, as well as a new Stetson hat to add to his collection. Boner joked that he had have a few of the members of Quicksilver sneak around and go through Lawson’s “dirty laundry” in order to figure out the correct hat size. Lawson then joined the rest of the night’s performers onstage to close the show with East Tennessee Blues.

Both before and after his performance, Lawson spent time backstage speaking with students and faculty, offering advice and sharing stories from his career. Freshman guitarist Ben Watlington even shared his Charlie Waller impersonation with Lawson, which the former Country Gentlemen member declared pretty spot-on.

For both the audience and performers at the Paramount, Thursday was a night to remember, as bluegrass music’s past, present, and future were honored, showcased, and celebrated all on the same stage.

Special thanks to Sherri George for the photos and videos from the show.

Doyle is marking the 34^th Anniversary of Quicksilver this week with a promotion ending tonight (4/2/13). You can enter on Facebook to win lunch with Doyle at KP Restaurant on historic State Street in Bristol.

Get your entry in by 9:00 p.m. (EDT) to be eligible. Winners will be announced at 10:00.

Here are a pair of students ensembles who performed at the Paramount. First up is Heart of Appalachia, with Adam Steffey sitting in on mandolin. Kristen Bearfield is on lead vocal and guitar, Heather Twigg on harmony vocal and fiddle, Cory Wharton on guitar, Josh Meade on banjo, and Matt Nuckols on bass. They performed Gone, written by Bearfield.

Next up are Heather Twigg, Brandy Blackwell, and Chelsea Dix-Kessler, who sing together in a harmony class at ETSU, doing One Day I Will.

Echoes of the Blue Ridge and ACMA

Due in part to the pivotal town of Bristol, northeast Tennessee and southwest Virginia have long been known as one of the locations where traditional country music was founded. Bristol, the location of the 1927 recording sessions which put The Carter Family, Jimmie Rodgers, and others on the map, has been honored with the name “Birthplace of Country Music,” and multiple organizations throughout the region continually work to support this heritage. One of those organizations is the Appalachian Cultural Music Association, or ACMA. This group has recently been the subject of a documentary film, Echoes of the Blue Ridge, which relates the history of both the organization and the region’s music.

Echoes of the Blue Ridge offers a mixture of interviews, musical clips, and images detailing important musical figures and venues from the region, as well as the ACMA’s role in promoting traditional music. A wide array of musicians were interviewed from the project, including Clinch Mountain Boy James Alan Shelton, Hunter Berry of Rhonda Vincent and the Rage, and Larry Sparks, in addition to regional groups such as the New Ballard’s Branch Bogtrotters and Appalachian Trail. It is interesting to see just how many artists either hail from or have been influenced by this region.

The documentary also provides viewers with information about the ACMA’s numerous contributions to the musical community of the Tri-Cities, such as the weekly Pickin’ Porch show, which features both local and nationally touring musicians, and the Mountain Music Museum, which offers visitors a chance to see photographs, clothing, instruments, and more from many historic figures in traditional Appalachian music. Also included is an interesting look at the Carter Family Fold, with interview clips from Rita Forrester, the granddaughter of AP and Sara Carter who now organizes the weekly concerts at the Fold.

While the documentary shows clips from the Pickin’ Porch and Mountain Music Museum at their longtime location at the Bristol Mall, they have now moved just down the road to Bristol’s State Street. The Pickin’ Porch will have a new home in the Foundation Event Facility at 620 State Street, while the Mountain Music Museum will open next door at 626 State Street. The Pickin’ Porch will also move from Thursday to Monday nights, with the first concert being held January 14, 2013.

The DVD includes two cuts of the documentary: 40-minute and 90-minute. The longer version offers somewhat more in-depth interviews which viewers who are especially interested in the role the ACMA has played in the music scene of the Tri-Cities and surrounding area may want to check out. Echoes of the Blue Ridge was produced by Chris Rector, a Kingsport, TN-based photographer and videographer. Music for the film was provided by regional old-time favorites the Whitetop Mountain Band.

For more information on the Appalachian Cultural Music Association and their new DVD, visit their website.

DVDs can be purchased by contacting the ACMA, with schools and libraries having the option to receive a free copy.

Rhonda turns ’em loose

WAMU’s Bluegrass Country has posted a new video of Rhonda Vincent & The Rage tearing through a cool medley of instrumental bluegrass favorites when they performed on the Katy Daley Show on February 2. Rhonda featured each of her top shelf pickers in turn (Brent Burke on reso, Ben Helson on guitar, Hunter Berry on fiddle and Aaron McDaris on banjo), and then closes it out herself on mandolin.

To quote the eminently quotable Katy Daley, the band was “fun, fun, fun” in the studio. There are other videos from this session on the Bluegrass Country YouTube page.

Who can list all 9 songs in that medley? Special kudos if you can also identify who is particularly identified with each tune!

Mr. and Mrs. Hunter Berry

Hunter Berry has married into the mob – the Vincent Sandker mob, that is.

On Tuesday Hunter, who plays fiddle with Rhonda Vincent and the Rage, wed Sally Sandker, the daughter of Rhonda Vincent and her husband Herb Sandker. Talk about job security!

Sally is a bluegrass picker as well, playing guitar and singing with Next Best Thing, along with her sister Tensel. It would seem that the Vincent musical dynasty is bound to continue into the next generation.

The two were married on June 8, with a small reception after the ceremony. An official public reception will be held during the Sally Mountain Park Festival on July 3, which also serves as a Vincent Family homecoming each year.

If you want to watch the happy event from this past Tuesday, Rhonda cybercast and recorded the ceremony.

Rhonda also posted a number of fun photos from the reception online.

Congratulations to Hunter and Sally from Bluegrass Today!

They were biting up in Amelia…

Sometimes it’s rough duty being the Queen of Bluegrass Music.

This past weekend at the Central Virginia Family Bluegrass Festival, Rhonda Vincent was viciously attacked on stage by an unidentified member of the class Insecta in the phylum Anthropda. She got bit by a bug.

Here’s video evidence, and proof that Mickey Harris of The Rage is a real trooper.

I’ve heard about being bitten by the bluegrass bug, but I doubt that this is what Rhonda had in mind.

There are a couple more videos from the Amerlia festival on YouTube, including one of Hunter Berry getting dunked in the lake for charity.