Fox N Hounds and the Hocking River String Band, two string bands, will be playing at Casa Nueva on Friday.
Fans of bluegrass are in luck — not one, but two string bands are playing Friday.
Fox N Hounds and the Hocking River String Band will be playing at Casa Nueva starting at 10 p.m. Both bands, who have played together in the past, say they complement each other well.
“It’s a good combination of sounds,” Steven Fox, the lead singer of Fox N Hounds, said. “We work well together.”
Doug Cherryholmes of the Hocking River String Band, said the band is fresh off of recording its third studio album while being snowed in at a cabin in the woods. He added the group is excited to play with Fox N Hounds.
Cherryholmes, who plays banjo, also said while the band is influenced by the bluegrass greats of days past, it isn't your average string band.
“We come from rock and metal backgrounds, so our songs are structured a little different,” Cherryholmes said. “We like having fun, and we aren’t afraid to do what we want.”
While metal and bluegrass don’t normally draw comparisons, Thomas Adams, the mandolin player for Hocking River String Band said the group is more similar than an audience might think.
“They’re not that much different, they both have a lot of energy,” Adams said. “We drive it real hard and play fast. That’s why I like both.”
The Hocking River String Band is not the only band that likes to mix things up. Fox said the group also like to keep things interesting when it plays live.
“We’re always trying to push the envelope by improvising and stretching it out,” Fox said. “You probably won’t hear us play a song live the same way twice.”
Fox said they also enjoy playing “weird, corky songs.” In this case, he was talking about the band’s cover of the Cyndi Lauper hit, “Girls Just Wanna Have Fun.”
“We tried it, and it worked,” Fox said.
He also added that playing songs like this have led to some strange situations.
“We were playing that song in a random bar when a whole squad of cheerleaders jumped up on stage,” Fox said. “They started clapping and doing routines. It was surreal but very funny.”
While bluegrass doesn’t bring to mind images of big cities, both bands said that their hometown of Columbus was a great place to play their music.
“(Bluegrass) keeps reinventing itself, which keeps it alive,” Fox said. “There’s definitely a good following in Columbus.”
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While Columbus has a larger bluegrass crowd than one might think, both bands also commented on the perks of playing in Athens.
“Athens has always been a great place to play in,” Cherryholmes said, who played in a different band while attending Ohio University.
@AustinRErickson
