Burnt Mountain Benders
Who we are:
Southern stringband music in Patrick County, Virginia by way of the north Georgia mountains. We want to get your festival or party up and dancin'....make you wanna break stuff....as a duet or full on rowdy stringband!
Merritt Smith:
Merritt Smith (fiddle, guitar, slide guitar, vocals), has been rockin' since his wee years in outlaw country, metal, and blues bands, tourin' with some of the best in the south...Mighty Fine Haggis, Skin Engine, Sammy Blue Band, Liz Melendez, whatnot. These days it's all about the fiddle and southern stringband music...since he developped "the sickness" ...as he puts it.
Andy Smith:
Andy Smith, (upright doghouse bass, banjo, vocals) started out as a flatfootin' dancer, tourin' the world with the Green Grass Cloggers back in the day. Bands she has graced: Locust Honey (Nashville), Georgia Crackers (Atlanta), Ralph Blizzard and The New Southern Ramblers, BareKnuckle Betties (Atlanta) and lots and lots of pickup bands at fiddlers conventions in her many years playing stringband music.
other folks that play with us:
We round out our rhythm section with folks like Jackson Cunningham, Kenneth Johnson, Chloe Myolet, Kevin Samuels, and a host of other southern Appalachian characters we might pick up. We have also graced the stage with our beloved Janice Birchfield, as the Roan Mountain Hilltoppers, and played with Frank and Allie Lee as the Freighthoppers for a spell.
Gallery
