Festival Starts Thursday at Big E: Cherryholmes Among Bands to Perform
By Beth Wilberding, Messenger-Inquirer, Owensboro, Ky.
Apr. 9–In less than 10 years, Cherryholmes started playing bluegrass music, became a touring act and won acclaim in the bluegrass music community.
Cherryholmes will be one of several bluegrass acts to perform at the sixth annual Bluegrass Returns to Its Roots Festival from Thursday through Sunday at the Executive Inn Rivermont.
The festival will also feature J.D. Crowe & The New South, The Isaacs, Bobby Osborne’s Rocky Top Express, Steep Canyon Rangers, Mike Cleveland & the Flame Keeper Band featuring Audie Blaylock, Wildfire and the Persimmon Sisters.
“We have worked to keep it alive,” Heath Eric, marketing director of the Executive Inn said of the festival. “Last year was the most successful by far.”
Over two days last year, 1,106 tickets and 450 hotel rooms were sold.
Cherryholmes, who have played at both Bluegrass Returns to Its Roots and ROMP, enjoy coming to Owensboro, said Jere Cherryholmes, the bassist in the group.
“There’s a good bluegrass constituent in the Owensboro area,” he said.
The festival kicks off with a battle of the bands Thursday night. There will also be unlimited jamming in the tower.
Steve Chandler, entertainment director for the Executive Inn and a Nashville record producer who has worked with bluegrass music acts, said they always try to include legends like J.D. Crowe in the festival. Many of their acts have won International Bluegrass Music Association Awards.
The first International Bluegrass Music Association Awards Show was held at the Executive Inn, and Chandler said having Bluegrass Returns to Its Roots there is like coming full-circle for many people.
“The vibe I get from the artists, it feels like a homecoming to them,” he said.
Cherryholmes is a family act with Jere as manager, emcee and father. Molly Kate, 14, plays fiddle; Skip, 17, plays guitar; B.J., 18, plays fiddle; and Cia, 23, plays banjo. Their mother and Jere’s wife, Sandy, plays mandolin.
Before forming as a band in 1999, only Sandy, Jere and Cia had previous musical experience — and they didn’t initially set out to be a bluegrass band.
About a month after Jere and Sandy Cherryholmes’ oldest daughter died in 1999, the family went to their first bluegrass music festival as audience members. When they saw Jim & Jesse & the Virginia Boys play, Jere Cherryholmes said it made the family feel good.
“We enjoyed the music,” he said.
Cherryholmes thought playing bluegrass music might make the family feel better. As they began to improve, people would tell them they should go out as a band.
“In a couple years, we decided if we were going to do something with it, there was no time like the present,” Cherryholmes said.
The group began touring full time in 2003, and in 2005, the group was named the IBMA’s entertainers of the year. Their first commercial release, “Cherryholmes” was nominated for a Grammy. Their second album, “Cherryholmes II,” comes out in May.
“It’s been an exciting time, but also a great time of responsibility too,” Cherryholmes said, “to prove to the people that voted for us, that have been supporting us, that we are serious and that we can deliver.”
To Attend
The sixth annual Bluegrass Returns to Its Roots festival is Thursday through Sunday at the Executive Inn Rivermont. An event pass is $45. Tickets for just Friday or Saturday are $25 each, and tickets for Thursday are $5. A Bluegrass Brunch will take place Sunday.
There is a special room rate of $79 for the festival.
For more information, call 926-8000.
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Copyright (c) 2007, Messenger-Inquirer, Owensboro, Ky.
Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Business News.
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