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The Pine Valley
Boys
Bluegrass Gold Series at the Sweetwater, Mill Valley, CA.
Tuesday 20 May 2003
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NWBN contributor Larry Carlin, who has done a wonderful job in building up these sessions in Mill Valley, Marin County, runs this series. Sweetwater is a very special, little venue - there is music every night and many famous personalities have played there, or even just turned up and played. And it is full to capacity at 110 people!
The main act for the night was the long-established band The Pine Valley Boys. They don't play as a group very often so this really was a special night! And what a distinguished line-up this band has! Old school pals Herb Pedersen (banjo and lead vocals), Butch Waller (mandolin and harmony vocals), David Nelson (guitar and lead vocals) and Ed Neff (fiddle, harmony vocals) were joined by local multi-instrumentalist and writer Steve Pottier (bass, harmony vocals). All have been in several well known Bluegrass bands in their time.
The first set got off to a slow start and it's not clear why. At first the temptation was to think, "Five old men playing Bluegrass," but were we proven wrong! They were five well-seasoned, talented performers playing real, great Bluegrass! They gave us all the old standards from Earl Scruggs, Ralph Stanley, Bill Monroe and Hank Williams. Songs such as Midnight Train, Blue and Lonesome, That Little Girl of Mine in Tennessee, Wicked Path Of Sin (great gospel harmonies) and a comic version of Hot Corn, Cold Corn (complete with "Chicken heads a-wringin' an' toenails a-flyin', Yes-sir!"
They finished their performance with flying fiddle from Ed Neff and an awesome banjo break from Herb Pedersen in Earls Breakdown They encored with She's No Angel but the crowd wouldn't let them go, so for a second encore it was New River Train. It would have been OK with us and the rest of the audience, if they'd played all night! They put so much into it; I have never seen any band so exhausted. A superb evening of 'ClassGrass' (as you might say)! Jean Brandon, Chester. Related CD Reviews:
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By Jean Brandon
The evening
was kicked off by local duo Howdiduo (fiddle, old time banjo, guitar
and vocals). They started with two Old Timey tunes followed by a mixture
of Old Timey and Country material; the latter included the Johnny Cash song
Jackson and some acapella gospel songs, all very well sung.
PVB opened
up with the good old traditional song You're No Longer A Sweetheart Of
Mine, followed by The Fields Have Turned Brown, with Herb doing
a good job on lead vocals. Animated Steve Pottier bopped around the stage
with his bass, coming to rest behind each soloist for their break to give
them a good solid sound to sit on.
By
the second set they had really hit their stride and the crowd loved it. By
now the little club was packed to capacity. A great treatment of the old
traditional songs Come All You Fair And Tender Ladies and The Girl
At The Cross-Roads Bar were just a couple of the highlights of the second
half. Ed and Herb did a couple of fiddle and banjo duets - Cheyenne
and Rueben's Train - to great effect; followed by a great guitar break
on Freight Train Boogie from old hippie Dave Nelson.