Sleepy Man Banjo Boys have announced that Cory Piatt, a young mandolinist from Tennessee, will join their band. Piatt has been performing of late with Kenny & Amanda Smith, and had released a strong debut solo project, Daydreams, late in 2012.
This latest move is part of the plan by New Jersey’s Mizzone brothers, the three teen and pre-teen pickers who comprise the Sleepy Men, to make the transition from a cute kid act to a serious performance vehicle in bluegrass music.
Cory said that he was sad to cut ties with the Smiths, but psyched to be more than a sideman with Sleepy Man Banjo Boys.
“I’m really excited about the opportunity to help shape a new sound. It’s fun for me to be part of the creative process.
These are the kind of guys I would hang out with if we weren’t playing music, so I know this is going to be fun.”
Sleepy Man Banjo Boys first came to prominence unexpectedly in 2011, when their dad posted a video on YouTube of Jonny, the youngest of the trio, tearing up Scruggs’ Flint Hill Special on banjo when he was 8 years old. That video soon had over 1,000,000 views and the boys found themselves invited to appear on national television, which only elevated their appeal, as have many subsequent videos online.
The Boys have a pair of albums to their credit, with the two older brothers Tommy (16 – guitar) and Rob (15 – fiddle) now taking on the larger role of writing and arranging material for their show. Jonny, now 11, is also writing original tunes for the band. In June they hired 19-year-old Blake Pitney on bass, and with 17-year-old Cory on board, they have a complete group of young professionals ready to grow as a unit.
Understanding the realities of the music business, the Mizzones are working on vocals and writing songs as well as tunes. A new recording is being planned now.
Though they haven’t yet starting recording, Piatt says to expect a new sound when the next project is released.
“This new album will be more than fast songs. It will really show off their musicianship. They are really gifted and talented people, as this record will show.”
The band currently plays a limited schedule to accommodate the educational needs of the young musicians, but will be expanding that as the years go by. You can keep up with their comings and goings online.
Sleepy Man Banjo Boys have announced the addition of 20 year old Blake Pitney to the band playing bass. The Boys tell us that Blake had played out with them a few times, and is now an official member of the team. They are on the hunt now for a young mandolinist to complete the group.
The pickin’ Mizzone Brothers (Tommy, Johnny and Robbie) came to prominence over the past few years for their instrumental ability, initially through YouTube videos of the youngest brother, Johnny, tearing up the banjo. As they get older and seek to be recognized for their all-around ability, the boys are now focusing on their vocals, and writing songs as well as tunes.
Blake lives in Nashville and will join the band for all their shows. His older brother, Mo Pitney is recently signed with Curb Records and is seeking a career in country music.
You can keep up with Sleepy Man Banjo Boys online.
A pair of bluegrass acts on opposite ends of the stardom spectrum have announced new representation this week.
Dailey & Vincent can plainly be described as superstars in bluegrass music, with album sales, awards, and touring success to back it up.
Sleepy Man Banjo Boys are just getting started in their music careers, but the three Mizzone brothers from New Jersey, with ages ranging now from 11-15, have made quite a splash on stage, on YouTube, and on TV. They can now boast of being represented by the prestigious William Morris Agency, with offices in major entertainment centers like New York, Nashville, Los Angles and several others around the world. Moonstruck Management will continue to handle day-to-day booking and management, coordinating with William Morris on “big picture” and expansion opportunities.
As for Dailey & Vincent, they will henceforth be represented by the APA Agency’s Nashville office, another worldwide talent agency with multiple offices in the US.
It’s nice to see bluegrass acts attracting this sort of attention from the larger entertainment world. Way to go guys!
As we mentioned last month, the pickin’ Mizzone brothers, otherwise known as Sleepy Man Banjo Boys, were invited to perform at the 2013 TED Conference in California. A sub-theme of this year’s event was contributions from special young folks around the world.
The boys say that they had a blast in this unfamiliar setting, and were especially excited to meet Bono, lead singer with Irish rockers, U2.
A couple of weeks after their TED experience, we caught up with Tommy (at 15, the oldest of the three brothers), and he shared a few impressions.
“It was one of our favorite places to play. There were so many brilliant people there. We met the founder of Google, and Bono from U2. We got special permission to go back stage and meet him and get autographs. He said he would try to stick around and hear us play, but I don’t know if he actually did or not.
We did our usual set and talked a bit about who we are and what we do. It was amazing. We got a standing ovation at the end. People seemed to be really moved by it.
Our set was about 9 minutes. We did three songs: Flint Hill Special, Rockwood Deer Chase, and Time Lapse from the new album.
Afterwards while we walking outside, people came up – they loved the music, and were amazed that we were able to do it as kids. There were geniuses there, and if they thought it was cool, it must have been good.”
Johnny, the banjo-picking youngest Mizzone who inspired the band name two years ago when he was 8, had the honor of opening the conference. He was on stage with a number of other young musicians, and was called upon to introduce himself and play a banjo lick to kick off the proceedings.
Though they don’t tour all year, Tommy says that it’s tricky to keep up with their studies when they are traveling. All three boys are home-schooled by their mom
“We always bring books on the road – if you’re reading a good book, you’re always learning. Robbie is studing the same thing as me. We’re studying revolutionary war now in history. We do testing when we get home.
But we try not to be gone from home for long. We don’t want Johnny to burn out. For a ten year old to be on the road year round, they’ll get sick of it.”
Middle brother Robbie (13) is moving into a role as the musical director for the group, writing a good bit of their material and coming up with arrangements.
But Johnny is still the star of the show. He is not only a brilliant banjo picker for his age, but a natural on stage to boot. Tommy tells us that he was a bit hit at TED.
“Everyone seemed to a kick out of Johnny and his crazy ways. He started all the songs really fast, so we just had to hang on.
He doesn’t really get nervous on stage. It’s more an adrenalin thing. Its something we’re working on.”
The Boys will be featured this Saturday (3/23) on Huckabee, airing on Fox News at 8:00 p.m. (EDT). Then on April 5, they will play The Grand Ole Opry along with Rhonda Vincent and Marty Stuart, two veteran entertainers who also got started at a very young age.
The three young Mizzone boys from New Jersey have made quite a splash tis past two years, performing as Sleepy Man Banjo Boys. From a number of simple home videos that exploded on YouTube, to appearances on network television and a popular stage show has…
Now the boys find themselves invited to present at the prestigious TED Conference in California later this month. The conference is dedicated to “ideas worth spreading,” in the areas of Technology, Entertainment and Design.
TED organizers discovered the Mizzones (Johnny, Robbie and Tommy) though YouTube, and invited them last year to perform at a smaller venue in New York for an affiliated event. They apparently liked what they saw, as a call came in January to invite the boys for the main conference in Long Beach in 2013.
Their 9 minute stage slot will include a few songs, and some prepared remarks from the boys.
A live audience attends all of the TED presentations, and a live stream is offered to schools, universities and businesses through TED Live.
Knock it out of the park, boys!
2013 won’t be the first time a banjo picker has been invited to TED. Abigail Washburn spoke (and picked) there last year.
I guess it only makes sense. Sleepy Man Banjo Boys made their bones as video stars, starting with young Johnny Mizzone picking the banjo in his bedroom when he was 8 years old. That video has reached almost 3 million viewers on YouTube, and skyrocketed him and his two older brothers, Tommy and Robbie, to a number of network television appearances and a pair of successful CDs.
Now they’ve been chosen by retailing giant Guitar Center to appear in a short commercial running on TV this weekend.
A representative of Guitar Center’s ad agency who was familiar with the Mizzone boys contacted them and asked if they would put together a 15 second spot for use in last-minute Christmas ads. They were delighted to comply, and included a few seconds of their original tune, Time Lapse, from their latest album, The Farthest Horizon.
If you are watching major cable, sports and network television this next few days, you may well catch their ad.
One of the chief rules of stage performance, going back to the vaudeville days, is that you never want to follow an animal or a kid act.
We don’t get many animal acts in bluegrass, but cute kids have been a staple since the earliest days of hillbilly music. In fact, a good many of our current icons got started that way. Both Rhonda Vincent and The Boxcars’ Ron Stewart were on stage as preteens, performing with their family bands.
Rarer are acts that are fronted and musically directed by young pickers, but that is what is developing with Sleepy Man Banjo Boys.
This trio of talented young pickers got its wholly unexpected start almost two years ago when Tom Mizzone posted a couple of YouTube videos of his then 9 year old son Johnny tearing up the banjo, with brothers Robbie on fiddle and Tommy on guitar. In the inexplicable way that videos go viral, they had more than a million views in short order, leading to guest appearances on both the Letterman and Huckabee programs. A video from them on Letterman has well over 3 million views.
The boys released an album of instrumentals in 2011, America’s Music, which while highlighting the young Mizzone’s budding talent, was primarily a collection of popular bluegrass tunes from their heroes’ repertoires.
Not so their latest CD, The Farthest Horizon. Seven of the eleven tracks were written by the boys – with an assist on two from their uncle Chris.
Johnny is now 10, Robbie 13 and Tommy 15. They all demonstrate a remarkable maturity for such young musicians, not to mention song and tune writers. They are supported here by Chris Mizzone on mandolin and Sal Ciaravino on bass. The only ringer on the album is Andy Leftwich who added a couple of mandolin breaks that uncle Chris didn’t feel up to tackling.
Though most of the selections here are instrumentals, a most welcome addition is the vocal contributions from 13 year old Ashley Lilly, granddaughter of the legendary Everett Lilly, on two songs. The first is How Deep The Father’s Love For Us, a lovely contemporary hymn from Stuart Townend, and the other Always The One, a Gospel song written by the Mizzone boys and their uncle.
The boys became acquainted with Ashley through a mutual online friend, and they didn’t meet in person until this summer when her family made a side trip to New Jersey to spend a Sunday afternoon with the Mizzones. The boys loved her voice, and the fact that she was their age, and asked her to sing on the record.
Tommy shows his Rice roots on a pair of tunes, the Monroe classic Gold Rush which Tony Rice turned into a guitar standard, and The Man From Danville which Tommy wrote as a tribute to Tony. Leftwich really eats this second one up, as he does on Lexie Lou, written by Robbie.
Johnny gets to shine on a number of banjo tunes, a composition of his called Johnny’s Tune (complete with Keith tuners), one of Robbie’s, Time Lapse, and Earl Scruggs’ Shuckin’ The Corn. As disconcerting as it may be to hear such a young picker
To my ear, Robbie shows the most dramatic artistic leap since last year’s release. He plays fluidly and creatively, showing a clear grasp of the style of the first generation bluegrass fiddlers, who is equally comfortable with both old time and contemporary fiddle tunes.
Dad Tom Mizzone said that the boys really did most of the work in pre-production, writing, choosing and arranging material. His brother, Chris – an accomplished rock musician and new blue grasser – produced in the studio, and helped the boys in arranging solos when problems arose. Robbie was also indispensable here, as he has developed a proficiency on all the bluegrass instruments, and assisted his brothers as well in composing solos.
Working without a label, the Mizzone’s raised funds for The Farthest Horizon on Kickstarter, where they generated over $40,000 in fan contributions. It debuted at #3 on the Billboard bluegrass chart on October 25.
But while listening to this impressive new release, don’t lose sight of the fact that these are young people playing the music. An anecdote shared on the CD cover makes that plain.
While tracking in his booth, Johnny was heard to say, “It sounds better when I tilt my head back.”
“Thinking he meant his banjo head position against the mic we said, ‘Okay Johnny, If you think so then play like that.’
We were amused to peek into the recording room to find him playing while looking up at the ceiling.”
The Farthest Horizon is available on CD from The Sleepy Man Banjo Boys’ web site, and from iTunes, Amazon and most other popular download sites.
This review of a new bluegrass on the beach festival in North Carolina is a contribution from Carmen Evans, a life-long music lover in Norfolk, VA. Photos are courtesy of Woody Edwards and Rhonda Vincent.
One usually thinks of a bluegrass festival being held in the country or the mountains, but at the Outer Banks Bluegrass Festival this past weekend, there was only blue skies, blue water, and the authentic sounds of bluegrass a-strumming. Shallowbag Bay, off the Roanoke sound, was the backdrop for the stage at Roanoke Island Festival Park where over 5000 people attended this family-oriented event. People came from all over the country, some as far as Maine and Hawaii.
There were so many wonderful bands in Friday’s line-up: Dry Mill Road, Banjo Island, Drifting Sands, Stoney Creek, The Hickory Project, Nu-Blu, Stacey Grubb & Clay Hess and The Whiskey Rebellion. You just have to come and experience this next year for yourself. Banjo Island was one of the opening bands for Friday and they really kicked it with the song, My Name is Jimmy Martin, written by Chris Edwards. Many thanks to Rhonda Bates, Wes Lassiter and Stanley (better known as Stash) Lawrence for their dedication to our veterans, with their song, Home Again, and there was hardly a dry eye in the house after they sang, Hurrikane, written by Wes Lassiter. Looking forward to hearing their future CD, which they are starting in December.
Saturday was just one of those special days, the weather could not have been better, BLUE BLUE, BLUE, for the bluegrass line up of Gary “Biscuit” Davis, Cumberland River Band, The Sleepy Man Banjo Boys, The Hillbilly Gypsies, Nothin’ Fancy, Doyle Lawson & Quicksilver and Rhonda Vincent and The Rage. Just listening and being in Doyle Lawson’s presence with Quicksilver, “There is a good reason why Doyle Lawson was inducted into the hall of fame. There were 5000 people at the OBX Bluegrass tonight who were witness to it,” said Mark Hodges of Mountain Fever Records. Shivers ran up and down peoples arms when they sang, Blue Train, holding out the vocal harmony for a full twenty four beats.
We had the opportunity to speak with Josh Swift, dobro player of 5 years with Quicksilver, who said of the festival organizers…
“…..it was first class treatment, air conditioned areas, drive and pick ups for the artists whenever they needed. Corey’s team was awesome. This is one of the largest crowd we have ever played to at a festival, and one that I feel I can bring my own kids to. It was that family oriented.”
Rhonda Vincent was having a GOOOOooood hair day! She opened with Kentucky Borderline to a full house and blew them away with her set.
Rhonda was enchanting and as she commented,
“We loved the Outer Banks Bluegrass Festival! Everything about the festival is first class, from the moment you enter the festival site, to the incredible billboards that promoted the festival, to the production staff, and hospitality. The site is so unique with the ocean behind the stage. It’s a breath-taking festival location with true class and style. I can’t wait to return in 2013!”
The fun did not end on Saturday at the park. Sunday’s lineup was a Bluegrass Beach Jam, at the Ramada Inn. The venue moved to Peppercorn’s at the Ramada and the crowd was reverent as they listened to the sounds of Mountain Fever Recording Artist, Sweet Potatoe Pie, and the finale by Hard Knox.
I know Doc and Earl were listen’n, pick’n and a grin’n. We miss you!
So just remember this festival for next year and think: blue skies, blue water, and bluegrass!
Sleepy Man Banjo Boys, the bluegrass pickin’ Mizzone brothers from New Jersey, have launched a Kickstarter campaign to ask their many web fans to consider helping them finance their second CD.
The album, The Farthest Horizon, has been recorded and the Mizzones expect to have it ready in September. The guys decided to look to the band’s’ fan base for the financial resources to manufacture the discs and arrange for professional promotion for the new record.
As they say on Kickstarter…
“We love American Bluegrass music and we’ve been bringing it to a whole new audience through online social media and TV appearances. We want to continue to build on our momentum and believe this album can be more successful than our first but that requires wider distribution and more promotion. We also like the idea of just being kids, (wiffle ball and cannonballs in the pool). We’ve gotten a lot of calls from labels and managers looking to help us out, but signing would change everything and we would prefer to go at our own pace right now. Your support through Kickstarter gives us a chance to produce and promote our album on a larger scale and remain fully independent! (Don’t worry – we’re working really hard on the album between wiffle ball and capture the flag.)”
Here’s their Kickstarter video, complete with a handful of boyish bloopers:
Visit their Kickstarter page for details on the premiums offered for various levels of support.
The sophomore release from Sleepy Man Banjo Boys, The Farthest Horizon, is due for release later this summer.
The “Boys” are the three picking Mizzone brothers: 10 year-old Johnny on banjo, with Tommy (14) on guitar, and Robbie (13) on fiddle. Since becoming a YouTube sensation last year, their videos have been viewed more than 10 million times, leading to performances on The Late Show with David Letterman on CBS and Huckabee on FNC.
They wouldn’t share a track listing just yet, but Papa Tom Mizzone did indicate that the tunes include some originals mixed with bluegrass classics.
“The boys have enjoyed their first writing experience and are staying true to the classic, hard driving bluegrass sound that they’ve fallen in love with.
They’ve been blessed with the opportunity to bring bluegrass to a new audience and hope to continue the momentum with The Farthest Horizon.“
Their debut CD, American Music, has sold more than 7,500 copies, and the new album is set for release on September 25.
Look for it on the Sleep Man Banjo Boys web site, and in iTunes and Amazon.
