| When: | Friday, January 27 @ 7:30pm |
| Where: | Unitarian Fellowship – 67 S. Randolph Ave, Poughkeepsie |
| Adults: | $15 |
| Students: | $5 |
| Children Under 12: | Free |
This will be the first monthly bluegrass concert of 2017 and we are so excited about having The Crust Gentlemen with us. This is a relaxed evening of good music. Hope to see you there.
The following article was written by Bob Holmes
The question that the Crusty Gentlemen probably hear most often is: “Why do you call yourselves the Crusty Gentlemen?”
And we usually answer them with: “Do you want the short answer or the long one?”
The short answer is that for our first gig we were going to call ourselves the “Crunchy Gentlemen” ( a take-off on one of our favorite bands, the “Country Gentlemen”) but the club owner misheard or misremembered the name and billed us as the “Crusty Gentlemen” instead. And it stuck (and I guess it could have been worse).
The long answer (and probably the reason why the name stuck) is that the 5 members of the Crusty Gentlemen embody the crustiness that comes from years of experience. The lead singer/guitarist Doug Allen has been playing music (bluegrass and otherwise) with mandolinist/singer Bob Holmes for over 40 years. Having met at the Rhode Island School of Design in the 1970’s they formed the seminal bluegrass/newgrass punk band “Blind Gary and the Foggy Vision Boys”. They went on to found the country punk band “Rubber Rodeo” who were awarded the first ever Grammy nomination for best music video.
Over the years, Doug & Bob went their different paths, with Doug becoming a staple of the downtown NYC punk/country/rockabilly scene and Bob going on to produce albums for artists as varied as David Bowie, k.d. lang and Nils Lofgren. Years passed, they both got a little crustier, but continued to play bluegrass together when time allowed. Then fate stepped in.
Bob was asked by a local club (which happened to be owned by his wife) to throw together a bluegrass band for a special occasion. Doug, of course was first on the list, and he brought along a banjo player who he had been playing with for years. We call him Jeffrey Friedberg, but most people know him as the Bossy Frog (don’t ask- it’s a long story). Bob & Doug asked Jonathan Gregg to sit in on dobro- an amazing musician that they’d known since their days in Providence. And then Bob’s wife Sherry introduced the band to the bass player Roger Moley who she had met through Dominic Chianese (otherwise known as the Soprano’s Uncle Junior- another long story for another time).
We thought it was going to be for one night – but that one night has stretched out to over 6 years- so I’d say that we’ve earned our crustiness one way or another.
Come on down to our HVBA show and see for yourself.
Bluegrass music is better than it sounds and the Crusty Gentlemen are here to prove it. Born under the Brooklyn Bridge in 2010, they were sired by bluegrass legends as diverse as Jimmy Martin, Jerry Garcia, and Axl Rose. Led by the vocal and guitar stylings of Doug Allen, the band also includes Bob Holmes on mandolin and vocals (with whom Doug founded Grammy nominated Rubber Rodeo over 35 years ago); Jeffrey Friedberg (whom many already know as the popular Bossy Frog) on banjo and vocals; Jonathan Gregg on dobro; and Roger Moley on upright bass. Together they have created a unique high lonesome sound that some have termed Pure. Hillbilly. Chaos.