These four men represent nearly 50 years of Country Gentlemen, one of the longest-lived
bluegrass bands ever to grace a stage. While the entire five-decade span of the
Gents era is represented by these four musicians, their touring and recording
reunion involves both a seamless recreation of early Gents material as well as
new songs -- a look into what might have evolved had the original classic band
remained together.
The Country Gentlemen Reunion Band debuted at 2005's IBMA Fan Fest gathering in
Nashville TN, where tremendous audience response brought down the house. Fans
concurred that it was "magical, like seeing and hearing the past and present
all together at one time," and there were more than a few sentimental tears
shed. Banjoist Adcock described seeing "a sea of white hankies in the audience.
I thought everybody had caught the flu!"
Adcock,
Gaudreau, Waller & Gray --The Country Gentlemen Reunion Band-- have been playing
selected dates across the USA. When the 50th anniversary of the formation of the
Country Gentlemen rolled around in 2007, a number of bluegrass festivals in various
parts of the country celebrated by calling on the Reunion Band to appear. As well
as revivifying classic Gents tunes, they are performing new ones from their self-titled
CD release on RadioTherapy Records, which is receiving worldwide airplay and critical
acclaim.
~ A LITTLE BACKGROUND ~
Those
iconic 'Classic' Country Gentlemen -- John Duffey, Charlie Waller, Eddie Adcock
and Tom Gray -- were genre-busters of the 1960's who swept the Washington DC area
into prominence as the "Bluegrass Capital", bending the music into a
more modern form and taking it into venues where it had never before been heard.
Before long their envelope-pushing uniqueness, coupled with vocal and instrumental
excellence and a brash approach, set the standard for a modern style of bluegrass.
Going
on to international renown and plentiful accolades, the Classic Gents eventually
were inducted as a group into the International Bluegrass Music Association's
Hall of Fame in 1996, the first band to be awarded in that manner. In 2006 they
were inducted into the Washington Area Music Association's Hall of Fame as well;
and over the years these protagonists and the other Reunion Band members have
received a multitude of individual honors.
The original Country Gentlemen band was born in the early morning hours of July
4, 1957, as the result of a fateful automobile accident on a lonely highway in
southern Maryland. Singer Buzz Busby and several members of his Bayou Boys band,
which at the time included Eddie Adcock, were partying after playing a show at
the Admiral Grill in Bailey's Crossroads VA when, drinking and driving, they crashed
at high speed into a power pole.
Busby
band member Bill Emerson had elected not to go along on the ride and, facing the
group's obligation to play a show the very next night, called Charlie Waller,
John Duffey and bass player Larry Leahy to perform in place of the injured musicians.
With a long recuperation ahead for Busby, Adcock and the others, the improvised
band stayed together and soon called themselves the Country Gentlemen.
During
the next year banjo and bass players came and went until Eddie Adcock, fresh from
a stint with Bill Monroe, set fate's wheels in motion when he was asked to join
the Country Gentlemen. He did so on condition that they would begin to pursue
original material and their own sound, the spark which allowed the creation of
a sound that initiated a sea change within bluegrass music. The Gents soon added
bassist Tom Gray, began to record a string of historic albums, and earned a spot
in the bluegrass pantheon. Eddie Adcock is quoted as saying, "Eventually,
everyone sounded a little bit like the Gentlemen, even Bill Monroe."
But the path to icon status isn't easy: they were so innovative that, nearly 50
years ago, a reviewer said of them, "Well, they're good, but they're not
bluegrass." Now we know that they definitely were. The early 'Classic' Country
Gentlemen were ground-breakers, movers and shakers who helped shape bluegrass
music into what it is today.
Shows The Country Gentlemen Reunion Band has played include:
IBMA Fan Fest,
Nashville TN; The State Theatre, Falls Church VA; Gettysburg Bluegrass Festival,
Gettysburg PA;
Mountain Top Festival, Tarentum PA; Bluegrass Hall of Fame
and Uncle Pen Days Festival, Bean Blossom IN;
Wind Gap Bluegrass Festival,
Wind Gap PA; Horseshoe Bend Bluegrass Festival, Scottsville VA;
Kiwanis Bluegrass
Festival, Kissimmee FL; Wagon Shed Concerts, New Freedom PA;
Country Gentlemen
50th Anniversary Celebration, Watermelon Park, Berryville VA;
Southern OH
Indoor Music Fest, Wilmington OH;
Virginia Historical Society, Richmond VA.
The band members are sponsored by these companies:
Deering Banjos, Gibson
Guitars, Kentucky Mandolins and Blue Ridge Guitars (Saga Musical Instruments),
D'Addario Strings, GHS Strings, Shubb Capos, Dogwood Designs straps, and Colorado
Case Company.
