THE SEVEN-YEAR ITCH: Renowned and beloved North Carolina rag-n-roll group The Blue Rags will reunite for a June 2 show at The Orange Peel in Asheville, A-Tone Music announced today.
The original six members, Jake Hollifield, Abe Reid, Bill Reynolds, Mike Rhodes, Scott Sharpe, and Aaron Woody Wood will share the stage for the first time since 1998. Although the band never officially disbanded and has continued to perform the occasional show with various group members, the upcoming show promises the full-fledged reunion fans have eagerly anticipated.
In the mid-1990's, the group ignited the Asheville music scene with a volatile blend of ragtime, rockabilly, blues, jazz, bluegrass, honky tonk, and rock-n-roll. Frenetic live shows, top-drawer musicianship, and a willingness to play any- and everywhere (all over the U.S. and internationally as far as Switzerland) endeared the band to Seattle's Sub-Pop Records, and the famed indie label released two Blue Rags albums in the late 90's, Rag-N-Roll and Eat at Joes.
Live tracks recorded in New York and North Carolina in 1999 and unreleased studio material are temporarily available as exclusive downloads on www.atonemusic.com.
SO MUCH MUSIC, SO LITTLE TIME: Despite developing a wildly loyal and enthusiastic following, the Blue Rags encountered many of the pitfalls that endanger young, creative bands personal demons, bad contracts, and other various and assorted transmutations. With the arrival of the new millennium, the Rags were no longer a touring band.
Since 1999, the various members have delved into individual musical projects, from studio work and solo careers to collaborations with such artists as Jim Lauderdale, Donna the Buffalo, Hollywood Red, and Peggy Seeger. The success of these projects made a Blue Rags reunion a scheduling challenge, but the desire to reconnect musically motivated the band to commit to the Orange Peel show and to at least two other dates to be announced, according to bassist Bill Reynolds. "We've always kept in touch and have helped each other out with various projects. Finally, we all agreed that we had to find a way to play together again. And we're psyched."
ASHEVILLE REDUX: When the Blue Rags first performed in Asheville back in 1989, some members coming from Statesville and other locales around NC, the mountain city was in the first stages of one of its periodical musical and artistic rebirths. The club Be Here Now was giving a stage to national touring acts, young people were flocking to the area, and the Land of the Sky once more seemed ready to adopt the progressive mantle it had first tried on during the Black Mountain College days of the 1940's and 50's.
The energy of early Blue Rags shows at venues like Vincent's Ear has become the stuff of local legend. To credit the Rags, therefore, with planting some of the seeds of the current scene, bursting at the seams with clubs and studios and bands is not exaggeration, but merely giving credit where credit is due. So it makes perfect sense that the original lineup will take the stage of the venue that embodies Asheville's current musical renaissance: The Orange Peel.
For more information, email Nancy Alenier at atonemusic@earthlink.net
