By Jean & Derek Brandon Write to us

Derek had been in contact with Bobby Earl Davis, the banjo player of the Earl Brothers, in connection with the bands proposed UK tour so, being in San Francisco at the time, we went to the Hotel Utah to check them out.

The Earl Brothers

This SF-based quartet comprises John McKelvy (guitar, vocals & excellent MC), Bobby Earl Davis (banjo & vocals), Steve Pottier (mandolin) and Patrick Campbell (bass). The 'Men In Black' certainly 'looked the part', but against the black curtain backdrop they disappeared somewhat. All four sang round a single mike (one of two), which was good for the harmonies; they handled it well.

We had already read the review by Ray Edlund of Pig in a Pen, KPFA-FM, Berkeley (see below), so were looking forward to an excellent, attention-grabbing, rip-roaring, foot-tapping gig, but, sadly, this was not to be.

This band writes all its' own material, which is largely in an old-timey fashion with what we would call the odd Bluegrass number thrown in. It seems strange to me to do only that, when there are so many excellent songs already established; I reckon it would have done no harm to drop a few of them in. It would also have provided some variety - it's very difficult to do well using only ones own material, unless one is especially gifted. Even the Beatles sang R&R standards until they were well established!

We were very surprised to find that at first there were no introductions to, or discussions of, the songs, nor any chat... they just started playing then the songs came one after the other, rather like a visual CD and with not dissimilar gaps between the tracks. To us they all sounded very much the same, with little variation in tempo, but with the odd change from 4/4 to ¾ time.

After several numbers they relaxed a little and started to interact a bit. Bobby Earl drank only lemonade and sang lead on some songs (a good plan for that rarity, the singing banjo picker!) and Steve had great musical attitude on the mandolin.

Much of the material was in modal tuning so it all sounded very 'samey' after a while. Even though they are all very competent musicians the "Wow!" factor was somehow missing... Interestingly Steve Pottier was also playing in the Pine Valley Boys gig at Sweetwater (LINK) and that was very exciting. Though the Pine Valley Boys had the technical edge, the Earl Brothers were not far behind. So what was missing? Perhaps we are the exception but when we go to a gig we expect to be entertained, and entertaining they were not. Entertainment value makes all the difference. Website | Write to

All Wrecked Up

Below: Chris and Mike singing I Ain't Goin' to Work Tomorrow.

We almost left before the local Bay area band, All Wrecked Up, kicked off the second half of the evening with verve and gusto, playing a good mix of Bluegrass and Old-Timey numbers with a couple of pop songs thrown in! AWU comprises Matt Knoth (guitar, banjo), Christa Dahlstrom (guitar), Mike Brown (bass) Chris Ereneta (mandolin, clawhammer banjo, dobro) and Annie Staninec (fiddle). At first we thought they were the 'house band', for Matt runs the Bluegrass sessions at the Utah, but no, they're not.

L to R on photos: Annie, Matt, Christa, Mike, Chris

Below: Christa and Chris singing Cindy

They certainly gave the Earl Bros. a run for their money! On fiddle was the Bay Area's latest  hot propery: petite, just-turned-sixteen-years-old Annie Staninec (remember that you heard it here first!).  Annie played with such fire and competence that Derek nicknamed her "Lil' Awesome Annie" (pun intended)! They gave a really good account of themselves and left their audience wanting more. Certainly an uplifting end to the evening.

Technically less endowed than the Earl Brothers but far more entertaining, they saved the night for us!

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Ed note: Matt's dad is KPIG's Cuzin' Al, bluegrass dj for more than 35 years...

25 June 2003