This weekend The Crowe Brothers are set to take Cindy Mae out just one more time. The 34th annual Boxcar Pinion Forever Bluegrass Festival at Mountain Cove Farms in Chickamauga, GA, is where they’ll play their last show tomorrow, Saturday, May 2. Showtimes are set for 3:00 and 7:00 p.m.
The Crowe Brothers got their start in bluegrass at an early age. Their dad, Charles “Junior” Crowe, was a banjo player whose band, The Sunshine Melody Boys, made it all the way from Georgia to Nashville, Tennessee’s Grand Ole Opry in 1960 after winning a talent contest. As expected, the brothers began learning their craft under their dad’s guidance. In a recent conversation I had with Josh, he said that he (now age 68) and Wayne (now age 71) played their first paying gig when he was around 10 years old. They earned $11 at the grand opening of a Gallant Belk department store.
Early on they performed with bands like Oliver Rice and the Blue Ridge Mountain Boys where Josh played bass and Wayne played banjo. In 1975, with Josh on guitar and Wayne on bass, the Crowes teamed up with legendary North Carolina banjo player Raymond Fairchild. Their combination of brother harmonies and solid picking blended with Fairchild’s unique banjo style seamlessly. They reached new heights and made their own way to Nashville where, for quite some time, they were regulars on the Grand Ole Opry. In the 1990s, Josh won the SPBGMA (Society for the Preservation of Bluegrass Music of America’s) award for Best Bluegrass Rhythm Guitar, and the brothers took top honors for Best Instrumental Band alongside Raymond Fairchild. Raymond Fairchild and the Crowes recorded and performed together for more than 15 years…