"Carolina Blue, a local bluegrass band composed of four area men, appears to be on a roll. The band won a statewide bluegrass competition in South Carolina recently, and brought home some outstanding reviews. Member Bobby Powell said the group was honored to be selected, but certainly didn’t go to the event with high hopes.
He said, “We would have been happy to just go down there and let the people listen. You’re never going to get rich doing bluegrass.” But Powell said it’s all about fun. “We have fun together. We’re like brothers.” He said 11 bands applied and eight were selected to compete in the competition.
Here’s what veteran bluegrass writer Ted Lehmann had to say about them after they won the band competition at RenoFest, an annual festival held in Hartsville, S.C.:
“Carolina Blue, coming from the Brevard area, presented what judges look for in a band. Their music was selected from classic bluegrass as well as songs written from within the band. Their tempos were appropriate and strong, their vocal trio excellent. This band will strengthen the opening hours of any bluegrass festival with its musicality and liveliness.”
Lehmann writes a blog called “Ted Lehmann’s Bluegrass, Books and Brainstorms.”
He also had kind words for the people who organized the festival.
“RenoFest is simply one of the best run small festivals we’ve ever attended: fan friendly, welcoming, comfortable, great sound, and, for those interested in up-and-coming bluegrass pickers and bands, one of the best places to go.”
Local musicians Bobby Powell, Tim Jones and Don Austin formed Carolina Blue in 2007 after the release of the album “Nothing So Blue.” Powell and Jones met in 1997. The gospel groups they were playing with (Powell with Heartfelt and Jones with The Spiritual Lights) were playing together on live gospel radio programs on WSQL 1240am. Powell then joined Roy Chapman’s True Blue Grass band in 2001 and was followed by Jones in 2003. Banjo player Don Austin joined the group around 2006. Bass player Reese Combs joined Carolina Blue later in 2007. Powell had met Combs at a bluegrass show at Brevard College in 2006 while playing with Roy Chapman. The group focuses on strong vocal trios boosted by the instrumental prowess of Jones’s mandolin and Austin’s banjo, with Comb’s bass and Powell’s guitar providing a strong rhythm. The band’s repertoire consists of bluegrass standards with many original compositions as well as gospel quartets, all done in the traditional bluegrass style.
Austin began studying the banjo while in high school. In addition to a number of talented local musicians, his biggest influences were Earl Scruggs, J.D. Crowe, and Tom McKinney. In the past Austin has played with Ralph Lewis and sons, Marty and Don Lewis of Asheville, the McMinn Family Band of Hendersonville and Roy Chapman of Rosman.
Tim Jones began playing mandolin around age 10. His mother says she would wake up sometimes at three or four in the morning and his bedroom light would be on. She would find him asleep in bed with his mandolin strapped around his neck, after he had nodded off practicing with Bill Monroe cassettes. Evidently, it worked. Jones is a mandolin virtuoso and has perfected the “Monroe style.” Jones is the proud owner of a Hutto Heritage mandolin made by renowned stringed instrument maker John Hutto, which was given to him by John’s late brother, Charlie Hutto. Jones cites Bill Monroe and Charlie Hutto as his biggest musical influences.
Bobby Powell started playing guitar at age 18, purchasing his first guitar with money he received for his high school graduation in 1995. By early 1996 he joined his first band, a gospel group called Heartfelt. A year later he joined a local gospel group called the Spiritual Lights. Powell was hired by Roy Chapman in 2001 to play guitar and mandolin in Roy’s True Blue Grass band. He later switched to the bass fiddle and stayed with Chapman for nine years until the group dissolved in 2010. Some of Bobby’s musical influences are Bill Monroe, Doyle Lawson and Larry Sparks. His biggest influence and his hero is still Roy Chapman.
Reese Combs grew up playing the piano and guitar by ear and loved listening to his father’s bluegrass and country records. He, against his wishes, was made to sing in his church’s youth choir by his mother, which he is very thankful for now. After attending several bluegrass performances, he began going to bluegrass jams. The house bass player didn’t make it one day. Combs grabbed the bass and hasn’t looked back. His first performance was with The JL Anders band in 2004. Shortly thereafter, he began playing with Boylston Creek. Combs joined Larry Keith and The Lonesome Road Band in 2005 and Carolina Blue in 2007. He is currently performing professionally with both bands year around. He has made a career doing something his mother originally found distasteful, he said. “My dad had bluegrass music going all the time,” Combs said. “My mother hated it.”
Powell said the popularity of bluegrass is easy to explain. He said, “It’s American. It’s about your life experiences.” Combs is from Mills River, Jones from Brevard, Powell from Rosman and Austin from Penrose.
The group has opened shows for Brevard’s Steep Canyon Rangers and last year performed at the White Squirrel Festival. Carolina Blue performs at local venues in Brevard and in August will be appearing at the Cherokee Bluegrass Festival."
- By Mark Todd, Staff Writer, The Transylvania Times
