King Wilkie plays bluegrass with charisma, confidence, and the certainty that they're following in some mighty big footsteps.
They named themselves not after legendary bluegrass master Bill Monroe but after his favorite horse. If that seems humble,
it fits the respectful, down-to-earth demeanor of the young Charlottesville-based band, who put their hearts and considerable
talents into every show, no matter how big or small the audience.
In tonight's gig at Smith's Olde Bar, a dark, smoky Atlanta rock club with sparse patronage on a Sunday evening, King Wilkie
entertains a small group of fans in a way some bands reserve for a crowd of 2,000. Guitarist John McDonald and mandolin player
Reid Burgess smile through friendly, low-key banter with the audience between songs. Anticipating the show, lead guitarist and
songwriter Ted Pitney says, "Sometimes a tiny intimate club or room is really great because you're super connected, you know?"
The band, which also includes banjo picker Abe Spear, fiddler Nick Reeb, and bass fiddle player Jake Hopping, makes
connections playing songs about loneliness and heartbreak, tragedy and bravado. They run through pieces they wrote--including
"Wrecking Ball," "Angeline," and the rest of their 2005 six-song EP Tierra del Fuego.
King Wilkie chooses bluegrass when other performers in their twenties might be following the well-worn path of alternative
rock. Reid and Ted love this essentially Southern music enough to let it pull them out of Ohio, across the Mason-Dixon, to
where bluegrass first grew.
"A friend of mine played me a Bill Monroe record when I was 19 or 20, and I was blown away," Reid says. "I became really
obsessive." Then he got lost at a festival and wound up in close proximity to John Hartford. "It was a real southern Ohio
traditional bluegrass festival," he recalls. "It was just so small you could actually go up and meet the musicians."
They've met plenty since forming the band and releasing three albums: True Songs; their critically acclaimed follow-up, Rebel
Records' Broke; and then Tierra del Fuego. Now some hail King Wilkie as the young lions of the genre. Others suggest the band
may help save the time-honored traditions of bluegrass. Not so fast, Reid says. "I don't think you have to worry about the music
becoming extinct," he explains. Bluegrass lives in the playlists of dozens
of traditional bands--and the hearts of untold thousands of fans. "It's just so much bigger than us."
King Wilkie's picks: If you want to hear where bluegrass all began, the Charlottesville band recommends The Essential
Bill Monroe & The Monroe Brothers, The Essential Bill Monroe & His BlueGrass Boys, and Appalachian Stomp: Bluegrass
Classics. In addition to King Wilkie, some other musicians keeping the tradition alive include banjo virtuoso Alison
Brown and singer Gillian Welch.
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