2020 Grammy nominated Po’ Ramblin’ Boys will be coming to Years of Farming on Sunday, March 1, 2020 at 2 p.m. at Double S Entertainment 150 Foster Street, Flemingsburg.
The Gary Strong Band will be the opening band. Tickets are $15 available in advance or at the door. Children 12 and under accompanied by an adult are admitted free. Attendees will have the chance to win door prizes provided by our sponsors including two tickets to our April 5 show featuring Joe Mullins and the Radio Ramblers with Williamson Branch opening.
The Po Ramblin Boys most recent album “Toil Tears and Trouble” was nominated for 2020 Best Bluegrass Album at the 62nd Grammy Awards. On Oct. 1, 2019, Po Ramblin Boys made their debut at the Grand Ole Opry!
Formed in the Smoky Mountains, The Po’ Ramblin’ Boys are not what you would expect from a tattooed East Tennessee Bluegrass outfit. No strangers to hard work, the boys are as much at home riding in their 1965 GM Tour bus as they are crawling underneath to fix it when it needs maintenance. But they take pride in being ambassadors of their genre, and the group has brought their music from rural bluegrass festival stages to the rock clubs of Europe, with stunning results.
CJ Lewandowski was working at Ole Smoky Moonshine Distillery in Sevierville, Tenn., when the band first formed. The distillery employed musicians to play for visitors seven days a week, and Lewandowski, who primarily plays mandolin and sings, was occasionally hired to fill in when the entertainment didn’t show. Eventually, the distillery approached him about forming a band for a full time slot, so he reached out to long time music friends Jereme Brown, who plays banjo for the group, and Josh Rinkel, who plays guitar.
“Jereme was doing a lot of welding work at that time, and Josh was running a sign company,” says Lewandowski, “I think we were all ready to do something new, something with our music but we didn’t know when or how.” Bassist Jasper Lorentzen happened to be working in the tasting room at the distillery, and he turned out to be the perfect final addition to the band. The four friends played multiple times a week for a year and half, honing their band sound, meanwhile word was spreading about their music.
“The first gig we played out of town was a festival in Alberta, Canada, and a week later we went on a two-week tour of Europe, it was crazy,” says Lewandowski. Material for the group’s debut album “Back To The Mountains,” was a combination of original songs and old numbers that honor the group’s mentors and bluegrass heroes.
The Po’ Ramblin’ Boys passion for bluegrass is as clear as it is contagious. With a heavy touring schedule across the United States and Europe and recently signed record deal with the esteemed Rounder Records, the Boys are well on their way to becoming the quintessential bluegrass band of their generation. Despite all of their recent success, they maintain a humble perspective.
“Bluegrass has left such a mark on us that we feel like we owe something back to the music”, says Lewandowski. Because we know that if we can bring bluegrass to new folks, those folks will come with us and support the bluegrass community.
Gary Strong started playing music at an early age formed a band at the age of 17, got his first job on the radio soon after and has been a bluegrass program host for over 40 years in and around Cincinnati! His band has performed all over the US. We are looking forward to performing at the Years of Farming show Sunday March 1.
Our goal is not only to provide bluegrass music in our area, but also to promote our local businesses. We are pleased to be sponsored by 49 local businesses that employ more than 500 people in our community including five other great festivals/venues in our area. Most of our sponsors have sponsored all our shows we have scheduled since 2011. We appreciate our sponsors whether this is their first show to sponsor or if they have sponsored all and we hope you will thank them for helping us bring such great groups to Flemingsburg. Please take the time to thank our sponsors for helping us bring great bluegrass music to Flemingsburg.
We hope you will join us at Years of Farming for an afternoon of awesome bluegrass music. It is a great opportunity to see this caliber of artists in our area in an indoor facility! If you are not familiar with any of our bands, whether a feature band or an opening band, check their websites and/or YouTube for some of their music and history and you will want to attend! Keep checking our website www.yearsoffarming.com for updates in our schedule.
For more information, tickets or to tag seats, you can contact Paula Hinton at (606) 748-0798 or [email protected].
