Beans and Banjos and Java (Brothers)

The Java Brothers return to Beans and Banjos in April after a too-long absence. The Java Brothers grew out of Radford’s Monday night jam, a Crooked Road affiliated event that convenes at The River City Grill. Ralph Berrier, the jam’s founder, is the band’s fiddler and the author of If Trouble Don’t Kill Me, the story of his bluegrass playing, World War II fighting grandfather and great uncle. Chris Burgoyne plays mandolin; Doug Capobianco plays the doghouse bass and Wayne Frye plays guitar. Bill Adams plays steel guitars and resonator guitars. Everybody sings. Regular banjo player Joe Abercrombie can’t make the show, so George Smith will be sitting in. The Java Brothers have become Radford’s house band, but they’ve played dances, festivals, brew pubs, and church services all over Southwest Virginia.  A typical Java Brothers set might feature songs from Bill Monroe, the Stanley Brothers, the Seldom Scene, the Country Gentlemen and the Monkees. They might even throw in one or two they made up themselves.

Fort Vause will open the show with bluegrass and bluegrass flavored blues, ballads, gospel, novelty and show tunes. Fort Vause will be in its bluegrass power trio configuration, featuring George Smith, who played banjo in the Appalachian Music Masters concert series and on recordings with Jack Hinshelwood and Buddy Pendleton. Jeff Wilcke plays guitar and mandolin. Tim Thornton plays bass. Everybody sings, sometimes all at once.

Along with the music, we’ll have beans, cornbread and desserts – dinner and a show Shawsville style.

Supper and music begin at 6 p.m. on Saturday, April 28 in the Dr. George R. Smith Community Center inside Shawsville’s Meadowbrook Center. It’s at 267 Alleghany Spring Road, at the corner of Alleghany Spring and U.S. 460.

This Evening of Beans and Banjos raises money for the LINC Letter and its LINC webpage. We hope each person who comes will donate $5 or more.

April’s event will be the last Beans and Banjos until fall, so be sure from come by for a dose of Beans and Banjos that’ll carry you through the summer.

As always, Beans and Banjos follows granny rules: No drinking; no smoking; no cussing; no spitting on the floor. Y’all come on out for supper. Stay to dance or sing along – or just sit there and pat your foot.

Beans and Chickenwings and Gravy and Java and Banjos

February’s Beans and Banjos will feature two great bands: The Java Brothers and Chickenwings and Gravy.

The Java Brothers

The Java Brothers, who will open the evening’s entertainment, describe themselves as “progressive, but pretty much only to the extent that we’ll play new songs as hard driving bluegrass. We love Bill Monroe, the Stanley Brothers, The Seldom Scene, JD Crowe, Tony Rice, Sam Bush, the Country Gentlemen, the Beatles, the Stones, and all the greats. The Java Brothers have a fun live show that mixes standard Bluegrass and Newgrass with fiery original tunes.”

On most Monday evenings, you can find many of the Java Brothers at the Crooked Road affiliated jam at the River City Grill. Ralph Berrier, the founder of that jam, is the band’s fiddler and the author of If Trouble Don’t Kill Me, the story of his grandfather and great uncle. Joe Abercrombie plays banjo; Chris Burgoyne plays mandolin; Doug Capobianco plays the doghouse bass and Wayne Frye plays guitar. Bill Adams plays steel guitars and resonator guitars. Everybody sings. The Java Brothers have become Radford’s house band, but they’ve played all over. They’re coming back to Beans and Banjos after a long absence.

You can hear a few of their songs here.

Chickenwings and Gravy

Chickenwings & Gravy, a.k.a. Bill Smith and Shawsville’s own Rich Rittenhouse, play original and classic Chicago blues, in the tradition of Muddy Waters and Howlin’ Wolf. Bill plays electric guitar and sings. Rich plays harmonica (a.k.a. miss’ippi saxophone) and sings, hollars and stomps. They’ve performed at the Blue Ridge Blues & BBQ Festival, the Big Lick Blues Festival, and many others. They’ve opened for The Nighthawks, Bob Margolin and other blues legends.

Chickenwings & Gravy are among the few duos performing the authentic Chicago-style blues today. With their originals and covers, they are carrying the genre into the 21st Century. They may have some of their CDs at the show — they’ve made three so far — so you can take the blues home with you.

You can see and hear samples of their music here and here and here.

In addition to all that music, the evening will feature beans and cornbread and dessert. Supper and music start at 6 p.m. on Saturday, Feb. 27, at Shawsville’s Meadowbrook Community Center. That’s at 267 Alleghany Spring Road in Shawsville.

As always, we operate on granny rules: no drinking, no smoking, no cussing, no spitting on the floor. Y’all come on out for supper. Stay to dance or sing along – or just sit there and pat your foot.

There’s no admission fee, but the Shawsville Ruritans are asking for at least a $5 donation to help the Ruritans provide scholarships for Eastern Montgomery High School graduates bound for college.

Y’all come!