Bluegrass at Pickathon? Meet The Po’ Ramblin’ Boys.
Friday June 21, 2019
by Pickathon
A hardy bunch of Southern moonshiners, bonding over the old mountain music they loved so much, formed up a band and rumbled out on the road in their old tour bus, bringing the gospel of bluegrass to small towns along the way. The Po’ Ramblin’ Boys bio sounds like it could have been written 60 years ago, if it weren’t for the little modern touches. The distillery where they met, Ole Smoky Moonshine Distillery, is actually a legal moonshine outfit, kitted out as a tourist attraction as well in East Tennessee. And the band doesn’t look quite like you might imagine from an outfit that harkens back to the old road-dog days of Monroe and company. There’s the tattoos for one, or the goofy Instagram videos. But those voices! Those voices raised in harmony, those voices calling to Jesus, those voices calling for prayer. That’s the original sound of bluegrass right there, and if a love of moonshine and ruckus is nestled in the DNA of the genre, so is a love of humble, authentic living, a desire to move beyond foolish pride. These are straight-forward guys, all of them focused on paying homage to the bluegrass greats–and the lesser known but deserving elders–who inspired them. And if they might show a little pride at getting signed to Rounder Records for their newest album, coming in 2019, well that pride is well earned and real. And they’re not going to sit around and wait for the accolades to come rolling in; they’ve already released a full-length bluegrass gospel album last year. The Po’ Ramblin’ Boys don’t always take themselves seriously (one of their band stickers reads “If it ain’t bluegrass, it’s just a dern weed”), but they take the music seriously and they want to share their love for the tradition with every audience.
Real bluegrass at Pickathon, performing TWICE during the weekend, Saturday night debut in the Lucky Barn and a Sunday night burner in the Galaxy Barn -> don’t miss ’em!
