Photos from the 2003 O*A*T*S*
Bluegrass Festival
Benton, Pennsylvania
Silk N Saddle (formerly The Carters)
Forrest Carter is the father and the band's bass player. Forrest has played
on the Grand Ole Opry for two consecutive years. Amber-Dawn has won the South
Texas Fiddle Championship and has won first place in several fiddle competitions
in her home state of Tennessee. Amber-Dawn also plays guitar and is a vocalist.
Scarlett, 19, plays mandolin and helps hold the rhythm together. Frank Carter,
14, is the International and Midwest US Flatpicking Guitar Champion. He also
does vocals and plays the guitar. McKenna, 12, who was not at the OATS festival,
is a vocalist. She placed fourth in the open division, including adults, at
the Old Time Country Music Association's Female Vocalist of the Year competition.
Lillie, 11, plays fiddle and guitar.. She has been singing harmony since age
four.
Charlie Waller and the Country Gentlemen
"Although he needs no introduction, we'll give him one anyway..."
Charlie Waller founded the original Country Gentlemen on July 4, 1957, and at the O*A*T*S* Festival he played on his anniversary. Charlie Waller has been a "Country Gentleman" for 46 years. His mellow voice is recognized any time one of his recordings is played, making him one of the pioneers of bluegrass music Still traveling, Charlie Waller and the Country Gentlmen were some of the Benton festival favorites. Their sound is distinctive and their music is timeless.
 |
||
|
R. B. Powell and Bridget Allen, Lewistown,
enjoy Charlie Waller on stage. |
Charlie Waller sitting in the front row watching the Bluegrass Brothers.
 |
Autograph
Time |
 |
 |
||
 |
We had very hot weather again in 2003 at the O*A*T*S* Festival. One of the most popular spots was the swimming hole in West Creek, adjacent to the stage. At times, the creek was filled to overflowing, but even at sunset it was a beautiful place.
 |
 |
|
The Swimming Hole
in West Creek
near Sunset
Here is a collection of photos that we haven't sorted into meaningful piles yet... This page is very much under construction, by the way.
 |
 |
|
 |
 |
|
 |
||
The O*A*T*S* Bluegrass Festival
in the beautiful Fishing Creek valley,
Benton, Pennsylvania
 |
||
|
The blazing sun made the tents popular
places during the day.
|
 |
||
 |
||
|
A small portion of the parking for
the festival. Notice the clear, blue sky. The festival had a complete
absence of rain. Although you probably can not make it out, on the left
side on the hill is a tractor pulling a hay wagon.
|
Sunday afternoon we even had a
derigible fly over.
| The Bluegrass Brothers were a huge hit at the 2003 O*A*T*S* festival with their hard driving, traditional music from the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia. |
|
The band was formed ten years ago, though some of
the members have changed. Three of the current members have been playing
together for six years. In the past two years they have produced CDs entitled
"One More Try," "Live From The Hills Of Virginia,"
and "Memories Of The Blue Ridge."
|
 |
 |
||
|
Fans Kelly Yost and Eugene Laubach
take it all in.
|
|
Members of the
Bluegrass Brothers include: |
||
|
Robert Dowdy on the banjo, lead and harmony vocals. |
Lives in Salem, VA, and has played guitar from the age of 5, although he switched to the banjo when he was12. Winner of several State championships.and a hit at the festival in Benton. |
| Victor Dowdy on the bass, lead and harmony vocals. | Like his brother, Robert, Victor was born in Roanoke, VA and resides in Salem, VA. He has played bass for 15 years and has won several competitions and his llead singing is with a powerful voice like that of Dr. Ralph Stanley. Victor also writes some of the songs for the group. | |
| Steve Dowdy, 23, playing guitar, lead and vocal harmonies | Like his brothers Robert andVictor, Steve was born in Roanoke and resides in Salem. He started singing at age 3 and playing bass at 9, but switched to guitar at 16 because he wanted to play in and write for his family's band. | |
| Jack Leonard on the mandolin, lead and vocal harmonies | Jack comes from Blueridge, VA and resides in Franklin County, VA. Jack started playing bass at age 7 and has played bass with Del McCoury & Bluegrass Cardinals. He started playing mandolin 8 years ago with the band. Today he also writes music for the group. |
 |
HeartStrings is a Nashville-based all-woman bluegrass
and acoustic music group
known for tight three-part harmonies
and original material blending country, folk and bluegrass.
The group has released its first CD recording, HeartStrings,
which features 12 songs, ten of which written by band members. Enjoy the lively
gospel numbers "Church Building" and "Are You Trusting in Sweet
Jesus" by guitarist Bo Jamison. The "Love for this Girl" by bassist
Marilyn Barclay is very popular. Fiddler Karen Pendley sings her own compositions,
"Right up the Wrong Road" and "Sometimes Angels Cry" and
introduces a new song, "Native Rose."
Only a few seats were obstructed!
 |
 |
|
 |
 |
|
 |
Talk about a local group... Mark Doncheski is from Danville and plays banjo, mandolin, finger style guitar and bass. Lou Eberlin plays rhythm guitar and often signs lead vocals. Rick Marcera is from Asbury, and we'll tell you a bit more about Rick in a moment. Bob Meehan slipped over the line from New Jersey and plays a mean harmonica. Ken Shafranko is the resophonic guitar player for the group. |
|
| The group will again appear in our area September 14, 2003 at Knobles Grove. |  |
|
|
Rick and Chris Marcera Rick joined Stained Grass Window in March, 1999.
Chris is one semester from graduating from Bloomsburg University and
works for the Bloomsburg Press
Enterprise. |
||
|
Rick plays bass, guitar, mandolin, saxaphone, drums, piano and is an excellent singer. Rick spent a number of years performing on the cruise ship circuit. He now lives Back Home in Benton, PA, in the Asbury area. |
Sunday morning at 9 AM, the Rev. Al Lumpkin, joined by his wife, Jean, and several friends, conducted Sunday services from the stage at the O*A*T*S* Festival. Members of Rev. Lumpkin's Church, the Presbyterian Church in Benton, joined with the bluegrass fans. Rev. Lumpkin has been with the Benton United Presbyterian Church for 23 years.
 |
 |
|
 |
 |
|
 |
 |
|
|
The last part of the service was dedicated to the
memory of Dave Diskin,
the founding member and first president of EYE-TEE, Inc. |
||
Formed in 1997, 2nd Edition is a young group. In their time together, 2nd Edition has released one project titled Morristown, with a second project in the works, titled Wherever We Go.
Low Profile
John Donaldson
J. B. Elliott, Pete Smith
Steve Waddell, Rich Bohr
For the Low Profile fans, they will next perform in Pennsylvania at the Wind Gap Bluegrass Festival, Wind Gap, PA, September 6, 2003.
Chester
Johnson
& the Walls of Time
The group consists of
• Chester
Johnson, now living in the Easton area.
• Steve Shelhamer from Berwick
• Danny Stewart from Lacyville
• Raymond Fairchild, Allentown
• Jim Huskins, now living in beautiful Juniata County, is both a preacher
and an auctioneer
All photos above were taken by
David Kline.
If you have photos to share, please forward
them to us with your name and City and State. Please include an appropriate
description of the photo if you can, so that we can identify the people on the
phote.
