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>> RENOWNED BANJO PICKER SAMMY SHELOR AND COMPANY KEEP OLD-TIME MOUNTAIN MUSIC FLOWING LONESOME RIVER ROLLS ON
Virginia banjo virtuoso Sammy Shelor is coming to Massaponax High School with Lonesome River BandDate published: 2/12/2009 BY JONAS BEALS In 1927, Ralph Peer rolled into Bristol and set up a makeshift recording studio in a hat warehouse. The records he made there are perhaps the most important in the history of popular American music. He was looking for hillbilly music that would sell, and he found it--the Carter Family and Jimmy Rodgers soon became household names. Over the span of two weeks, Peer recorded a number of regional acts, but none of them came close to matching the success of Rodgers or the Carters. One of those largely forgotten bands was Dad Blackard's Moonshiners, otherwise known as the Shelor Family. The Shelors came to Bristol from nearby Meadows of Dan, a picturesque hamlet in Southwest Virginia that straddles the Blue Ridge Parkway. Family tradition lives on in Meadows of Dan today--renowned banjo picker Sammy Shelor still lives there, and still makes impressive bluegrass steeped in the musical traditions of Appalachia. His Lonesome River Band will play Saturday at Massaponax High School. "Bluegrass is a good place to find simplicity," Shelor said in a recent interview, explaining the genre's recent success and hinting at the reason for hillbilly music's popularity in the '20s and '30s. "People can identify with it." The Lonesome River Band has been upholding the bluegrass tradition for 26 years, Shelor said the band combines traditional playing with a "rock 'n' roll rhythm section." Not drums and electric bass, but the drive and attitude of a rock band. "We've got a bit of a unique style," Shelor admitted, noting that his band is not the only one pushing the bluegrass envelope. "I like to think that we have played some part in changing the direction of bluegrass." Shelor might be able to make that claim personally, since he is on the short list of banjo greats. He has won four International Bluegrass Music Association awards as banjo player of the year, and has a Huber banjo model named after him. His playing has been a trademark of the group since he joined in 1990, and has become the core sound of the band as members have come and gone around him. Shelor is the longest-tenured member in the band. "I'm the one constant in the band," he said. "With the band changing, the sound is never going to be exactly the same, but we've managed to keep the idea we started with." That idea is made audible on their latest album, "No Turning Back." Classic bluegrass tones mix easily with flashes of instrumental prowess and polished country vocals. Before joining the Lonesome River Band, Shelor was a member of the Virginia Squires alongside former Fredericksburg resident Mark Newton. Shelor recalled playing in the Fredericksburg area during the '80s, in places like Mr. B's in Spotsylvania and The Chimneys downtown. "We've taken our brand of music around the world," he said, "but this will be the closest we've been to Fredericksburg in quite some time." Jonas Beals: 540/368-5036
Read more stories about Stafford Date published: 2/12/2009
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