Popular Bluegrass Band Allegheny Drifters Set to Perform at Ellwood City Festival
The Allegheny Drifters are a Bluegrass band originating in Western Pennsylvania. The Band is set to perform at the Ellwood City Arts, Crafts, Food and Entertainment Festival on June 30 at 3:30 p.m.
In 2002, veteran western Pennsylvania bluegrass mandolinist Bob Artis was invited to put together a one-show-only bluegrass band to perform with the Pittsburgh Mandolin Orchestra at their debut concert to be held in April 2003.
Bob’s wife Karen Artis was the obvious choice to play bass, and friend and former bandmate Bernie Cunningham was called in to sing and play guitar. With the addition of Alabama transplant Jake Abrams on banjo, the Allegheny Drifters were born and were an instant hit.
At the time, Jake and his wife Lisa were busy with their own band, but Jake continued to help on banjo when he could. In 2005, Keith Beaver, banjo picker from Ohio joined the band, and remained a popular member until his departure at the end of 2013.
Young banjoists Gregg Welty and Jim Scott occupied the banjo spot until 2017, when the Drifters added well-traveled banjoist Radford Vance and 5-state fiddle champion Michele Birkby-Vance, bringing a powerful new dimension to the band’s sound.
Hallmarks of the Allegheny Drifters are their stunning vocal harmony and their total commitment to professionalism. They’ve learned what audiences enjoy, and work hard to please and entertain. They are a traditional bluegrass band without being overly bound to convention or restrained by the past. All are talented songwriters, adding fresh original material to the band’s catalog. They continue to seek new ways of reaching out to audiences with their message of authentic bluegrass.
“We are always looking at ways to get the crowd involved,” Karen Artis said. “At The Ellwood City Festival we plan to play some music from our new CD, and we are also open to requests from the crowd.”
The Allegheny Drifters released their first CD, Out of the Woods, in the spring of 2006 and the project received great reviews. In 2008, the band released Can’t Wait, featuring the outstanding fiddling of internationally acclaimed Michael Cleveland. They released an all gospel recording, Climb Heaven’s Ladder, in 2014.
In celebration of the band’s 15th Anniversary in April 2018, they released Rolling On, recorded by the talented Grammy-nominated engineer, David Mayfield. Over the past 15 years, the Allegheny Drifters have earned a solid reputation as one of their region’s most popular and hard-working bluegrass bands.
This article is part three of a four part series, check back tomorrow for our final behind the scenes coverage article of the Ellwood City Arts, Crafts, Food and Entertainment Festival.
Photo courtesy of the Allegheny Drifters.
To get a first listen of the Allegheny Drifters feel free to watch the video below!
Is entertainment the only thing that is going to be covered in these articles?
Hello Joyce,
Was there something specific you were looking to be covered?