View Full Version : East Virginia, an early 1980's band
Going through the stack yesterday, came across some gone-but-not-forgotten recordings from this solid trad band. Was the McDonough brothers, with Harold Smith on one strong-sounding F-5. Mike Auldridge (RIP) on selected cuts. They wrote a lot of their material and they played it with drive and had terrific vocals. Harold plays it melodically and mostly from the chop shape.
Whatever happened to them?
Wolfboy
Jan-15-2013, 6:29pm
Sure, I remember them - good band, with especially impressive vocals. Saw them live several times at bluegrass festivals in the late 70s/early 80s. They made two albums independently and two for Rounder, none of which as far as I know have seen the light of day on CD. They broke up in 1982 (I saw their last gig, at a festival in Smithfield, VA) and re-formed in 1999 long enough to make a CD called Back Home in East Virginia (http://www.allmusic.com/album/back-home-in-east-virginia-mw0000241883), with a slightly modified lineup (Joe and Art McDonough both changing instruments, from banjo and guitar to dobro and bass, respectively). Haven't heard anything from them since and don't know what they're up to individually.
Mike Bunting
Jan-15-2013, 10:40pm
Frippin' at the Kratz.
Wolfboy,
Thanks for the good info. There were so many great bands back in the late 70-early 80s releasing music - BG Cardinals, these fellows, DBFS, Seldom Scene, Spectrum, Tony Rice, Skyline, etc. It was a fertile time. I used to listen to and tape a Saturday morning radio Show called Music America out of FDU in Teaneck, NJ. The regular DJ was a guy by the name of David Gross (mandolin picker, as a matter of fact) and he would spin the latest 'hits'. And he would always open the show with the same tune - Farmyard Swing off a Kenny Baker record, with Bobby Osborne playing a syncopated mandolin break. I loved that show.