Ah, yes. Get a bunch of kids together, ages 10-14, give ’em musical instruments, tell ’em to play some bluegrass (HA, HA!), and just let ’em go. You’d probably expect a pile of noise. That might be normal, but….
What you get from this rather staggering quartet is Bill Monroe, Earl Scruggs, and the Dillards.
I listened to them play in a band competition. They had just finished a piece that had background banjo throughout it, the beautiful counterpoint ringing like it was Doug Dillard backing up his brother Rodney, Dean Webb, and Mitch Jayne (original Dillards). Then the older sister announced their names. She gave the banjo picker’s name as Salima, and as an afterthought, noted that her age was twelve.
TWELVE!!?? AAARRRGGGHHHH!!
IM-BLOODY-POSSIBLE!! She can’t possibly play like that at that age! There’s been a glitch in time! Salima is actually 45. She must be!
I am certain that no one just twelve years old could possibly play banjo that well. Heck, I’ve been pickin’ since I made my first banjo at age 20, and now, many decades later, I still can’t play that tight background stuff.
When I heard that, my jaw hit the floor, stayed there all day, and now is only gradually rising from the floor. And it’s been a week.
Going one step further, I found out the ages of the rest. The singer/guitarist with the great voice is Akulina, age fourteen. Cherylann, the superb bassist, is eleven, and Alaniya on mandolin is ten. I don’t think I could hold a mandolin, much less play it one tenth as well as this young lady, at that age. Must say, the young ages of these brilliant musicians is very pleasantly surprising.
They are taken care of very well by their parents Murat and Melissa, neither of whom are musicians. The kids run, smile, make music, go on tour with their music, and clearly enjoy life. They now live in Florida, having kissed the bitter Alaskan winters farewell, just like I did back in ’92.
Things you don’t see: noses in cell phones for hours on end; tattoos; nose rings; computers all over the place in their home; a big TV set around which they cluster. And there is no trace of LARD on any of them. How rare that is!
Their website is thealaskansunnysidesisters.com, where you can get their CD, book ’em, find out more about this brilliant young band, see where they’re gonna be performing, and lots more.
Give ’em a look and listen, here:
Dang that’s cute!