Rail Critters

Jeff and Vida Band with Greg Schochet and Jake Schepps &
the Expedition Quartet  - Saturday April 11

listen to Jeff and Vida at the Rail

Vida’s powerful vocals and driving 1942 Gibson J-45 guitar with Jeff’s rock-n-roll approach to mandolin and guitar gets crowds feet stomping, and “is about as perfect a combination as you’re likely to find.”  Performing original songs spanning from Appalachian bluegrass to alternative country, New Orleans’s well-known acoustic roots act Jeff & Vida have recently relocated to Nashville. After three studio recordings and years of rigorous touring nationally and internationally, Jeff & Vida have found a creative musical setting with their newest band.  Jeff and Vida’s past performances include the Ryman Auditorium, New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival, and the Johnny Keenan Banjo Festival in Ireland, and they were featured in a New York Times article titled Nashville’s Band of Outsiders in September 2007.

Listen to Expedition at the Rail

While rooted in the stringband tradition, the Expedition Quartet is not bound by any one tradition. Their set is as likely to include bluegrass stomps, traditional fiddle tunes and swing standards, as an Argentine tango, Brazilian choro, or an original modern stringband composition. The Expedition Quartet didn’t form like an ordinary group, and it follows that their music is far from ordinary. In 2006, after hearing banjoist Jake Schepps’ solo CD, the Durango Bluegrass Meltdown insisted Jake put together a band to perform. Seizing the opportunity to showcase Jake’s unique vision of adventurous stringband music, he recruited some of the most accomplished acoustic musicians from Colorado’s thriving acoustic music scene. Despite being the most adventurous group at a fairly traditional festival, The Expedition Quartet’s sets were an unqualified success, and it was clear that the expedition had just begun.

In 2007, the band released the all-instrumental album Ten Thousand Leaves, which was produced by Nashville’s Matt Flinner. It was called “One of the top 10 releases of 2007” by JazzReview.com, and “Highly Recommended” by Dirty Linen. Music from the CD received an International Acoustic Music Award, in addition to being selected for Global Rhythm Magazine’s November 2007 CD Sampler.

TO RSVP:
You must be invited and RSVP in order to attend. Email info@coloradograss.org for more information/to be invited. If you’ve never been before, be sure to introduce yourself. Tell us who you are with an address and a phone number & how you found us or who sent you here.

The potluck is 6:30 and start music somewhere 8-9:00

Be sure to join us for the last potluck of the season:

May 2 - Honey Don’t - featuring Bill Powers and Shelly Gray of Sweet Sunny South along with favorites Greg Schochet and Ryan Drickey.  Bill passed along a preview of some of their new material (you really want to check this out!) *We’ll be sending invitations and accepting rsvp’s after 4/12

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