Lonesome River Band
The Boxcars
Jim Hurst
Southern Sun
The Dixie Ryders
Virgil Bowlin & Peerless Mtn.
Tidalwave Road
Coaltown Dixie
75 South
Meagan Sasko
and many more to-be-announced!

Remember, tell everyone about the festival! If you have any extra ink or a place to print them, go to the Spread the Word page and download the flyer!

All of the national bands were awesome, of course, with Sally favorite Lonesome River Band closing the show on Saturday in their usual explosive fashion. Unfortunately, they weren’t able to stay the night as they usually do, but the jamming Saturday night was still great.

One of the big (and pleasant) surprises of the weekend was Marty Raybon and Full Circle. We knew they would be awesome, but we had no idea they would play almost 30-minutes longer than their allotted time. Thanks Marty for the great show! The fans really loved it!

Another great surprise was Tidalwave Road. Great show guys! We got a lot of feedback about you guys and everyone (including the promoters) wants to have you back next year!

The Russian band, Grass Pistols, also put on an amazing show. If you didn’t get a chance to see/hear them, go to their website and see where else they’re going to be on their U.S. festival tour.

Everyone involved in the festival came together to make another memorable event, from parking volunteers to security to the festival promoters. Please spread the word about this festival to everyone you know…first weekend in June, 2012!

Please post to this blog with any comments/recommendations you have about the festival: bands for next year, things we can do better, things you liked, etc.

You have until May 20th!

All of the bands put on great shows, with Lonesome River Band closing the show on Saturday night in explosive fashion. Afterward, Sammy and the guys mingled and jammed with the fans as they have every year at Sally Gap. Marty Raybon and Full Circle were amazing, playing awesome Bluegrass as well as some Shenendoah favorites. Brand New Strings came up from TN and showed the crowd why they are one of the hottest young bands in Bluegrass right now. Sally favorites Kentucky Wind and The Dixie Ryders never failed to please the crowd, and of course host band Southern Sun was there, as well.

On Friday, J.D. Crowe and the New South closed the show to screaming fans, who were well-primed by The Kenny and Amanda Smith Band. Friday also gave us Sally veterans Blue Storm and Virgil Bowlin and Peerless Mountain, as well as the host band, Southern Sun. But one of the biggest treats of the Friday show was Bill Yates and the Country Gentlemen Tribute Band. Bill was sounding as good as ever, and Mike Phipps sounds so much like Charlie Waller it is absolutely unbelievable!

Sally Gap 2011 promises to be even better, and we need your help. Please post your recommendations for bands you’d like to see next year! We promise to consider each and every one!

Thanks to all of the great fans who came to the mountains of southeast KY to help make Sally Gap 2010 great! We know that with fans like you, Sally Gap 2011 will be a great success!

Winners of the International Bluegrass Music Association’s prestigious Emerging Artist of the Year award in 2003, the Kenny and Amanda Smith Band combines gutsy, heartfelt vocals, brilliant instrumental talents, and a powerful, contemporary sense of song-choice and arrangement into one of the most compelling new sounds in Bluegrass today. Born of the intensely personal musical and romantic connection between Kenny and Amanda Smith, the band shares an all-too-rare sense of intimacy and cohesion where each musician feels an almost telepathic connection. Musicians call it being in the groove, where the group collectively accents each beat in precisely the same way. Whatever it’s called, this band has it in spades.

Kenny and Amanda Smith

Originally from Nine Mile, IN, Kenny Smith is widely considered one of the most important and influential flatpicking-style guitarists of his generation. A two-time IBMA Guitarist of the Year award winner, his professional credits include six years with the popular Lonesome River Band and an exceptional solo CD, Studebaker, released on Sugar Hill Records in 1997. Kenny’s in great demand at guitar workshops and master classes, teaching at the renowned Roanoke Bluegrass Weekend series and at guitar workshops at major events such as IBMA. He has just released a two-DVD instruction set on AcuTab Publications.

Kenny and Amanda Smith Band

Born in the small town of Davisville, WV, Amanda Smith grew up singing in church choirs and participating in talent contests at local fairs.  She started playing guitar in high school to accompany herself, and soon discovered Bluegrass music through female artists such as Claire Lynch, Rhonda Vincent, and Alison Krauss. She met her future husband at a Lonesome River Band concert, and the couple began dating and playing music together almost immediately. “I wouldn’t say it was love at first sight, but there was definitely something there,” she explains. Their shared Christian faith, love for Bluegrass, and desire to perform together led them to record a debut CD, Slowly But Surely in 2001. Recruiting several of their favorite players for the session, the album surged up the Bluegrass charts on the strength of their hit song, Amy Brown.

Winning IBMA’s Emerging Artist Award came as an unexpected thrill for the Kenny and Amanda Smith Band. “We were blown away just to be nominated; we didn’t know whether anyone was even paying attention to what we were doing” says Kenny. “So to hear our names called and to go up on that stage was just amazing.” The band’s second release, House Down The Block, on Rebel Records, further solidified its position as one of the best new bands in Bluegrass. Their third album is entitled Always Never Enough and is a must-have for Bluegrass fans. Earlier this year, the band’s first-ever all-gospel project was released on Rebel Records. Tell Someone is available from all major music outlets and from the band directly.

So come join us at Sally Gap Bluegrass Festival and here this astonishing husband-wife group.  They’ll be playing on Friday on our 1500 acres of Bluegrass paradise!  Get your festival passes now!

Marty Raybon and Full Circle

Founder and former lead singer of the Grammy-award-winning Country act Shenandoah, Marty Raybon led Shenandoah to 22 singles on the Billboard Hot Country Songs charts, including thirteen number one singles, including: “The Church on Cumberland Road” (1989), “Sunday in the South” (1989), “Two Dozen Roses” (1989), “Next to You, Next to Me” (1990), “If Bubba Can Dance (I Can Too)” (1994) and “Butterfly Kisses” (1997).

His talents are unmatched, whether he’s singing Country, Gospel, or his personal favorite, Bluegrass.  And between the three genres, he has become very busy, performing over 100 shows per year between the United States and Canada.

His latest and most exciting venture is the release of “Daddy Phone,” a heartfelt tribute to fathers separated from their children by divorce.  Raybon has packaged his songwriting genius in At His Best, his debut album with current label GrandVista Music, scheduled for Spring 2010 release.

Marty Raybon - Daddy Phone

Everyone who hears Raybon knows he has a voice to be reckoned with.  Dating back to his early days in his home state of Florida, he sang in his family’s Bluegrass band.  Like so many other Bluegrass artists, the grind of part-time playing and full-time work eventually got old and in 1984 Raybon headed for Nashville.  By the following year he’d scored a publishing deal and moved to Muscle Shoals, Alabama, founding the group that would eventually become Shenandoah.

Since then, he has enjoyed many years as an esteemed performer in the Country, Southern Gospel, and Bluegrass genres.  He grew up in Bluegrass and later earned acclaim in Country music, so it should come as no surprise that the latest release from Marty Raybon and his band, Full Circle, bears the mark of both.

Raybon’s vocal abilities have garnered numerous accolades throughout his career.  Those he treasures most are said to be those from his peers in the industry.   Gary LeVox, lead singer of the mega supergroup Rascal Flatts, views Raybon as “The greatest singer on the planet to this day,”  while esteemed music critic and scholar Robert K. Oermann exclaims, “There are few more thrilling vocalists in America than Marty Raybon.”

Marty Raybon has gathered great musicians to form Full Circle, including Glenn Gibson, Chris Davis, Jayd Raines, and Daniel Grindstaff.  So whether you come-out to hear a Country superstar singing Bluegrass, or whether you just come to hear a great Bluegrass band, you don’t want to miss Marty Raybon and Full Circle!

Go to the schedule page of Sally Gap’s website to find-out when they’ll be playing.

J.D. Crowe has been a fixture in Bluegrass music since the 1970s, and his band, the New South, has featured some of the best talent in the genre.  Tony Rice, Ricky Skaggs, and Jerry Douglas were all members of the original New South, and are shown with J.D. in the picture below.

Original J.D. Crowe and the New South

Along with these notables, other Bluegrass greats have been members of the New South.  Jimmy Gaudreau, Richard Bennett, Don Rigsby, and Phil Leadbetter have all played in J.D.’s band, and they all went on to successful careers in the genre; which proves J.D.’s judge of young talent.  Probably the most famous past member of the New South was Keith Whitley, who played with J.D. in the mid-to-late ’70s.  Keith Whitley went on to become a world-famous Country singer, whose sorrowful legacy remains one of the most poignant in Country music history.  Below is the cover of the second album Whitley recorded with the New South, with Whitley standing second from the right.

Keith Whitley with the New South

Today, J.D. Crowe is still touring and playing and still attracting some of the best young talent in the industry.  The current New South features Guitarist and vocalist Ricky Wasson; on mandolin, tenor, and high-lead vocals is Dwight McCall; Steve Thomas joined the group in 2008, playing fiddle as well as contributing to the sound vocally; also new in 2008 was the addition of John Bowman on upright bass and lead/harmony vocals.  Below is a picture of the current J.D. Crowe and the New South.

J.D. Crowe and the New South

We can’t wait to have this legendary entertainer at the beautiful Sally Gap Bluegrass Festival!  In the meantime, if you’re interested in more information about this great band, go to their website.

Sammy Shelor Jam at Sally Gap '09

Sammy Shelor played in this jam until 3 a.m.! And he didn’t just play…after the jam he gave advice to up-and-coming banjo players, including Blue Storm’s banjo player seen in the picture below.

Sammy Shelor Giving Banjo Advice

Lonesome River Band is truly a class act! They connect with the fans in a way that is rarely seen among cream-of-the-crop Bluegrass bands. Sally Gap is honored to have them anchoring the lineup for 2010!

And congratulations to Sammy Shelor, who was inducted into the Virginia Music Hall of Fame on September 18th, 2009! For more information on Sammy’s induction, click here.

Click here to go to LRB’s great website!

J.D. Crowe and The New South

Marty Raybon and Full Circle

Kenny and Amanda Smith

Brand New Strings

Bill Yates and the Country Gentlemen Tribute Band

The Dixie Ryders

Virgil Bowlin & Peerless Mountain  

Blue Storm

Kentucky Wind

Southern Sun

Here is a list of the Bands for 2010.  What are your thoughts on the line-up?