REVIEW: Bluegrass Band the Grascals Performs at the Firehouse Arts Center

From the moment the Grascals stepped onto the stage, the room was immersed in their lively, energetic music and attitude.

The Grascals are a bluegrass band made up of six members. They recently won Bluegrass Band of the Year in addition to their many other honors.

They performed at the  on Thursday. This was the first time a bluegrass band had been featured there, and it was clearly a hit.

The band has three vocalists, Terry Eldredge, Jamie Johnson and Terry Smith. They are accompanied by Danny Roberts on mandolin, Jeremy Abshire on fiddle, and Kristin Scott Benson on banjo. Each member brings their own person talent and experience to the band. This makes for a very unique and modern sound that is entertaining for all.

They released two new CDs in the last year. The first is called Grascals and Friends and is only sold in the Cracker Barrel Old Country Store. On this album, the Grascals perform with many famous country singers, including Brad Paisley, Dolly Parton, Dierks Bentley, and Tom T. Hall.

"I enjoyed the 'Grascals and Friends' one best because we got to work with all those great country talents and icons," said Eldredge.

"Anytime you get to work with the legends like Dolly Parton, Charles Daniels or Tom T. Hall that’s always fun. It’s not work for sure.”

On this CD, they collaborated with Dolly Parton on a song called “I Am Strong.”

Jamie Johnson wrote this song after the band visited St. Jude Children’s Hospital in Memphis, Tenn. They were visiting the hospital to present a check to from the MACC Festival, Musicians Against Childhood Cancer, at which they regularly perform.

In the hospital, they saw a wall with the words “I AM” at the top and underneath all the children had finished the sentence and one of the children wrote “I Am Strong.” On the CD, the song features the touching vocals of Ansley McLaurin, a three-year-old cancer patient.

“It was inspired by the children of St. Jude and its paying tribute to those sick kids,” said Eldredge.

Additionally, a portion of the funds from the CD will be donated to St. Jude.

Their second CD is a tribute to the Andy Griffith show and celebrates its 50th anniversary. It’s all songs off of the TV show. As Eldredge said, “I loved the Andy Griffith one because I love the show and I like the music also.”

Band members Terry Eldredge and Terry Smith are huge fans of the show. During the Pleasanton performance, they even challenged the audience to see if anyone knew more about the show than them.

Surprisingly one person was able to stump them, and they won a CD as a reward.

The Grascals have received many awards for their work and are one of the most beloved and acclaimed bands on today’s bluegrass scene.

This year, they brought home three SPBGMA awards: Instrumental Group of the Year; Mandolin Performer of the Year (Danny Roberts) and Banjo Performer of the Year (Kristin Scott Benson). In 2005 they received the International Bluegrass Music Association’s Emerging Artist of the Year award, and have continued to grow and flourish.

They didn’t always have the six members they have now. Christian on banjo and Jeremy on fiddle were added later.

“They brought a brightness to our sound,” said Eldredge.

The Grascals have some tours planned for Canada and Europe coming up. They’ve been to Switzerland, Germany, Belgium and Japan before. However, their favorite place to play is the Grand Ole Opry; they performed there about 106 times already.

“We love playing at festivals and theaters because you get to meet a lot of bands and make new friends too," said Eldredge.

"That’s one thing with bluegrass music; it’s kinda different from country or rock. In bluegrass, people are very hands-on-hands people, fans-on-hands people. We always go out and mingle with the crowd and fans and you get to make friends. You really get kind of a fan-family network."

This is a very unique aspect of bluegrass music and it definitely helped to make the concert at the on the Firehouse Theater stage more enjoyable. The audience was thoroughly involved in the music and songs the band played. There was never a dull moment with the Grascals.

As one audience member put it, “it was a bootstomping good time for all.”