If you are interested in taking part in the first show of The Birthplace of Country Music's House Show Series, please send me an email here and I will get you all the details.. The first performer wll be  St. Louis's own Roots Musician Pokey Lafarge. Pokey is one of the most dynamic and authentic performers touring the country today and here is your chance to see him up close and personal. You can find him on our top friends list to see and listen. We have about 10 seats left for this show. It will be in a downtown loft on State Street in Bristol, VA..with a suggested donation
of $25. Everyone should bring their favorite snack and drink. This will
surely be the beginning of a very special series geared up for true music lovers. House shows are how live music reached its audience in the early years and we want to offer that experience to you again for the first time in
Bristol. Also feel free to email me directly at eblevins@bvunet.net

looking forward to hearing from you.
eric

Without a doubt starting tonight will begin the most ambitious week of live music in downtown Bristol since last September! Check out this schedule and please get out there and support great original live music. Also, take the time to thank Dave at O’mainin’s , Justin and Co. at Machavelli’s  and Anette and Co. at Stateline Bar for continuing to bring the music we love to historic downtown Bristol, TN/VA. I plan to be there singing and jumping around, come join me.

Wednesday night: O’mainin’s Pub: The Two Man Gentleman Band

Thursday night: O’mainin’s Pub: Ian Thomas, plus special guest

Friday night: Machavelli’s: The Holy Ghost Tent Revival

Friday night: O’mainin’s Pub: Medford’s Black Record Collection

Saturday night: Machavelli’s: The Catbird Seat

Saturday night: State Line Bar and Grille: The Annie Robinette Band
Saturday night: O’mainin’s Pub: The New Familiars

Hi, folks!

A lot of you have emailed us here at MySpace asking for The Avett Brothers to return to The Reunion in 2008.  Unfortunately, we couldn't make it happen but we have good news!  The Avetts will be at The Paramount Center for the Arts on Friday, July 12th!  Tickets are $25 and they WILL SELL OUT FAST so reserve your seats now!!!  Call the box office at 423-274-8920!

The Friday night crowd at a popular sushi establishment in Johnson City, Tennessee, drinks its cosmopolitans and unwinds after another busy week. Through the door walks a one of Virgnia's best flatpickers, though not a single face acknowledges his legendary presence. Larry Keel keeps his bull horn shaped beard pointed southward and makes his way to the back of the room to order a cup of coffee.

It's been a busy year for the flat-picking guitar master. He recently finished a three state tour with one of his idols, Tony Rice. Prior to that, Keel and his wife Jenny spent time on the road with the one-man jamband Keller Williams. Currently, Larry Keel has breathed new life back into one of his half-dozen semi-regular bands, Larry Keel and Natural Bridge. Keel and his mates in Natural Bridge bring the traditional sound of Appalachia together with an atomic rock power that will leaves audiences blinded by Keel's one of a kind picking.

Rhythm and Roots had a chance to sit down with Larry Keel and talk a little about what we might expect out of his festival sets, bluegrass in Japan, and advice on how to be married to your bass player.

RR – It seems like every show I attend, there seems to be at least a 50% chance that Larry Keel might show up. You just finished a quick tour with Tony Rice, and you continue to work with Keller Williams on your new album. I'm frightened to think of some of the collaborations possible at Rhythm and Roots.

LK – I am very blessed to get to play with a lot of great musicians. I always pick up something from each one of them. With Keller, I tapped into how he gets along with all of the young people of today. He's definitely doing that. With Tony, I just tried to pick up on his sophistication and good feeling. Recently we were in Jamaica and we got to play with Little Feat. Just getting to groove with them, you just hope it rubs off on you in a good way. Rhythm and Roots sounds like a good chance to meet some icons that I've wanted to meet. There will be lots of old friends and there will surely be lots of cross-pollinating picking going on!

RR – One of the great stories about you involves one of the first real jobs you had in the music business. The legend says you spent some time working for Disney in Japan. Why am I picturing you wearing those stupid mouse ears and picking away at a bluegrass version of "It's a Small World After All"?

LK – Nope, that wasn't me (laughs). A friend of mine lived near Orlando. He was reading through the paper while he was working in this RV park and he saw an ad for musicians wanted to go to Japan. He called me up and said I needed to come down and we put something together. They liked it and we were off two or three weeks later to Japan for six months. It was different, but great. There's a lot of bluegrass culture there.

RR – You grew up in this great musical family from Southwest Virginia. Tell us a little about that history, and how did you break loose of that tradition to form your own unique style?

LK – My father grew up in Clintwood, Virginia. He was a coal miner, a farmer, and even a moonshiner during prohibition. I had some uncles who played music and hung out with some great pickers from around Clintwood like Kenny Baker (fiddler for the Bluegrass Boys of Bill Monroe fame) and Ralph Stanley. My Dad was a great singer and guitar player as well as a banjo picker. My older brother also played. They would play picnics and barbeques at area fire halls. I grew up listening to people like Tony Rice, Eric Clapton, and Django Reinhardt. All these styles were so different, and at a certain point I felt like I was absorbing a lot of it and hearing it in my head and remembering what they were doing and I tried to do it myself. I took a bit from here and there and eventually it developed into my own style.

RR – Your wonderful wife is more than just a moral supporter at each show. She's the bassist, and a really talented bassist to be honest. Here's the question - would you rather be a good husband or a great guitar player?

LK – I want to be a great husband, and I have a beautiful wife to share my everyday with. I want to be a better husband than a guitar player, but if the guitar playing will pay the bills, that's being a good husband, right?

Sidebar:When Del McCoury was asked to name his three favorite guitar players he answered, "Hank Garland, Tony Rice, and Larry Keel." McCoury was so impressed with Keel that he even asked to record his ode to Appalachia, "Mountain Song," on the Del McCoury Band's 2005 Grammy award winning release, The Company We Keep. Keel's voice resonates the pain and pleasure of life in the mountains he so loves. He truly is one of the nice guys, a simple mountain man with a big voice. One quick note from the interview; Larry is a shy person by nature. I kept noticing that he would end many of his answers with the words, "you know." Well, the one thing I do know is Keel's two sets on Friday night should not be missed. And, in between, keep your eye out for a deep talking man with a big beard and a bigger smile headed to sit-in and do some five finger menacing on other stages with his friends and idols.

--Written by Brent Treash, Bristol Rhythm & Roots Reunion Music Committee

The Music Committee for Bristol Rhythm & Roots Reunion has been busy booking headliners for BRRR 2008 and we think you’re going to LOVE IT!!!!  Each year we do our best to bring you the finest  possible  talent and we couldn’t be more pleased  with how things are working out.  We’ve still got a few offers hanging out there, but here’s who we have CONFIRMED so far:

Dr. Ralph Stanley

Doc Watson

T.G. Sheppard

Sam Bush

The Duo - Mike Marshall & Darol Anger

New Riders of the Purple Sage

Cherryholmes

Cephas & Wiggins

The Dan Tyminski Band

Otis Taylor & The Black Banjo Project

Blue Highway

Larry Keel & The Natural Bridge

The Infamous Stringdusters

James Hand

The Redstick Ramblers

The Hackensaw Boys

The Carolina Chocolate Drops

Scott Miller & The Commonwealth

Robinella

the everybodyfields

Bawn in the Mash

David Massengill

Head for the Hills

Holy Ghost Tent Revival

Hungrytown

Ian Thomas

Langhorne Slim

M.S.G.-The Acoustic Blues Trio

Mark Brinkman

Medford’s Black Record Collection

Old Line Skiffle Combo

Scythian

Tennessee Mafia Jug Band

The Coal Men

The Floorbirds

Blue Mother Tupelo

The Near Misses

The New Familiars

Woody Pines & The Lonesome Two

Wayne Henderson

Mike Baytop & Rick Franklin

Catbird Seat

Randy Hixson

The Grit Pixies

Josh Green

Christabel & The Jons

Cutthroat Shamrock

The Straight 8’s

Danielle Walters

Catbird Seat

Houser & Co.

Paleface

The Morning Pages

The Maid Rite String Band

The Kamikaze Hearts

The Pete Kartsounes Band

THANK YOU FOR HELPING KEEP THE MUSIC ALIVE IN BRISTOL, THE BIRTHPLACE OF COUNTRY MUSIC!