Songs from the Road Band is a supergroup featuring a rotating cast of musicians who all perform with other ensembles and projects throughout the U.S. This may be your only chance to see them share the stage in this configuration – Charles R Humphrey III (Steep Canyon Rangers, bass), Sam Wharton (guitar), Phil Barker (Town Mountain, guitar), Mark Schimick (Josh Daniel/Mark Schimick Project, mandolin), Sam Guthridge (banjo), Tommy Maher (Fireside Collective, dobro), James Schlender (fiddle) (subject to change). They’ll be joined for a few tunes by Raleigh’s own Hank & Pattie! And Songs from the Road Band will have a brand new CD with them at this concert, too!
Songs From The Road Band formed in 2004 when Charles Humphrey III pulled its members together to record songs he’d written while traveling with the Steep Canyon Rangers. The guys began their musical friendships in Chapel Hill, where the founding members often jammed together. Their first album was simply Songs From The Road. Their sophomore album, As The Crow Flies, was released in 2009. Their third album, Traveling Show, features 14 original songs that Humphrey co-wrote with Shawn Camp, Jonathan Byrd, Phil Barker, Charlie Chamberlain, Sam Gutheridge, and Mark Bumgarner. Songs From The Road Band along with Andrew Marlin produced the record, which was recorded at Echo Mountain Studios in Asheville. The band members are all fully engaged in their respective bands but have been playing and recording together, whenever schedules permit, for more than 10 years.
Wharton is a dynamic guitar player who developed his picking chops in the music halls of Telluride, CO. He currently makes his home in the mountains of Western North Carolina. He sings lead and harmony vocals on all three Songs From The Road Band albums. Barker is the full time mandolin player in Town Mountain. He has co-written several of the songs on the Traveling Show album. Schimick is one half of the Josh Daniel/Mark Schimick Project, and he sings and picks with heart and soul. Maryland-based banjo player Guthridge plays in a multitude of bands based in his home state, in addition to occasional appearances with Songs from the Road Band and other ensembles. North Carolina’s own Maher is the masterful dobro player for Fireside Collective. Originally from Montana, Schlender is a young musician who started playing fiddle when he was 9 years old, and by the time he was 13, he had won two National Fiddle Championships. Since that time he has won many regional and state fiddle contests and has placed in the top 10 for the last 3 years in the prestigious Grandmasters Fiddle Contest held in Nashville, Tennessee. Today, he is studying jazz and classical violin at the University of Miami in Florida. Humphrey plays full time with the Steep Canyon Rangers, and he still makes his home in Asheville. He is executive producer of Traveling Show, and he has written or co-written all songs in the SFTRB discography.
