High Lonesome Strings Monthly Meeting

Cornbread Revival

Cornbread Revival was born out of a group of bluegrass musicians picking in Grandma’s garage about 21 years ago. The name is to pay homage to Flatt & Scruggs and their connection to The Martha White Flour radio and TV shows from years past. Through the years there has been about eight different members of the group. The band has played many private functions with appearances at DeweyFest and Lil Johns bluegrass festivals. As the saying goes, Bluegrass Forever!

Mike Aldridge is well known in the bluegrass world. He started his career at the early age of 12 with “The Country Boys” near Chapel Hill. He has over 50 years of performances with AL Wood, Al Batten, Bass Mtn. Boys ,Tommy Edwards and various other bands. His ability on mandolin , stage presence and blending with lead, harmony or tenor gives any group a great sound.

Mike McCollum first encountered bluegrass in 1972 at the Camp Springs Festival in Caswell county. From that point on bluegrass was the only music in his world. Now after many appearances ,jam sessions and festivals the desire to continue learning, playing guitar, and singing has never wavered .

Tim Mendenhall grew up learning to play guitar at age 11 with his twin brother Tom in Siler City, NC taking lessons from Eugene Craven. After a couple years, he started taking banjo lessons from Jerry Stuart, who also taught his brother mandolin at the same time. Tim then moved to taking lessons from Gary Williamson to learn Scruggs style playing. As they progressed, they started their first band called “The Balsam Gap Boys” playing churches, fiddler’s conventions, retirement homes, early Bass Mountain and Camp Springs Bluegrass festivals and local outings. They teamed up with Jerry’s son, Doug Stuart which eventually led to them getting an audition for Bill Monroe at “The Big O Jamboree” in Graham, NC, where they were invited by Bill to perform at The Grand Ole Opry. In November of 1979, they performed during a matinee bluegrass show at the Opry with Bill Monroe, Jim & Jesse, Bluegrass Cardinals, and others. Over the years while attending college, Tim and his brother Tom formed the band Hickory Wind with Vernon Allred, Mike Cochran, and Paul Kiteck while attending college. They were fortunate to win the Pizza Hut Band Competition at the Denton Bluegrass Festival. The prize for winning was to perform the next year as paid performers at the Denton Bluegrass Festival in ’82. (the same year The Bluegrass Album band made its debut with Tony Rice). Over the years Tim has played banjo with the original configuration of Nu-Blu (out of Siler City) and a year with Fisher & Co along with buddy Wayne Joyce. Over the last 20 years, Tim has played on and off with “Sassafrass” Bluegrass band out of Wilkesboro, NC with Wes Tuttle and Randy Gamble and locally with “Cornbread Revival” in the last 10-12 years with Mike McCollum and the late Dave Osborne (and now with Mike Aldridge on mandolin). Tim enjoys listening to bluegrass as much as he does performing, and is re-visiting collecting old bluegrass vinyl LP’s like he did as a teenager. Tim’s early heroes on banjo were Earl Scruggs, JD Crowe, and Terry Baucom along with many newer heroes in the banjo world.

Jeff Rumsey’s Grandmother started him out on the piano at a young age. He played music in school bands through his senior year in high school. After graduating, he attended Bluegrass festivals, and like many Bluegrass fans, he started playing banjo and guitar. In 2000, he was at a local jam that had plenty of banjo and guitar talent but no bass player, so he played the house bass that night and has been playing upright bass ever since. He found out quickly that good upright bass players are hard to come by and in high demand. He has played at most North Carolina Bluegrass festivals including Merlefest and the IBMA World of Bluegrass in Raleigh. Currently he is playing with two local bluegrass bands doing around 45 shows a year and filling in with others whenever the opportunity arises.

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High Lonesome Strings Bluegrass Association

A group of Bluegrass musicians and fans who get together to celebrate Bluegrass music