Bluegrass Band Chester River Runoff at the Bullfrog

Many musical groups describe themselves as "a family."  But in the case of Chester River Runoff, it's not a simple cliché. It's an accurate description. For nearly seven years they've been laughing, bickering, and making music together. And you can hear the results Saturday, May 7, 10 p.m. at the Bullfrog Brewery in Williamsport.

The band is known for shows that combine three- and four-part harmonies and a mastery of the bluegrass idiom with the high energy of some of the more far-flung torch-bearers of acoustic music such as Old Crow Medicine Show and the Avett Brothers. Banjo player Sam Guthridge says, "We started out by doing our homework on traditional bluegrass and really getting a handle on it, and then we moved on to doing our own thing. That sets us apart from a lot of the bands we're compared to."
 
No strict traditionalists, the Runoff's original songs draw inspiration from all over the map, and their sets are sprinkled with covers from artists as disparate as Pavement and Waylon Jennings, as well as songs the band has mined from old pre-bluegrass field recordings while riding in "Old Brown," their battered tour van.

Guitarist Ben Armiger and Guthridge formed the band in the fall of 2004. After losing their original bassist and mandolin player, the pair did some searching and managed to convince bassist Marc Dykeman and ace fiddler Nate Grower to come along for the ride. Over the next five years, Dykeman and Grower became integral to the group, with Dykeman's rock and roll background livening up the mixture and Grower bringing the bluegrass chops that have enabled him to share the stage with some of the genre's legends.

Chester River Runoff now plays at numerous venues and festivals up and down the East Coast. With the release of their  studio album "Blue Heron Farm," and a consistent drive to write, learn, and expand their musical horizons, more growth is on the way for the band.  
 
www.chesterriverrunoff.com http://www.reverbnation.com/chesterriverrunoff
http://www.bullfrogbrewery.com/

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