THE CORN POTATO STRING BAND earns high praise in traditional American music, keeping old time fiddle and banjo music from a one-way trip to the dustbins of history. Theirs is a story of struggle, hard knocks and triumph. Essentially unable to cope with modern life, the members of this band are outcasts of society who survive by playing the lost music of the flatlands where they were raised.

The Corn Potatoes are all multi-instrumentalists dedicated to continuing the music and dance traditions of the Central and Southern US. In addition to being champion fiddlers they play banjo, guitar, bass and mandolin and deftly handle many different antiquated styles including ballads, “ho-downs,” country “rags” and southern gospel, specializing in twin fiddling and double banjo tunes. More below the ticket link.

“This is Americana and then some, taken spryly with a good deal of humor, a dose of seriousness, and sometimes reverence, but always with finger-lickin’ tasty chops everywhichwhere. Hard to tell who’s playing what at any point, as all (Aaron Jonah Lewis, Lindsay McLaw, Ben Belcher) are multi-instrumentalists, but it hardly matters, as there’s not a jot of grandstanding, just a deep love of the polyglot style and the sort of pinpoint precision and interplay one expects in swing, hot jazz (which took its cue from the styles the Corn Potato-ers inspissate), and bluegrass. Folk and Acoustic Music Exchange

“I’ve heard quite a lot of old-time fiddle and banjo playing, trust me, but I’ve never heard it like this… played at break-neck speeds, Aaron’s fiddle whipping around tight corners like a high-end sports car. It was like watching Bach hopped up on speed, composing kickass barn dance tunes in Appalachia. Kind of.” –No Depression

“They blew the audience away. A half-hour of standards, obscurities and charming banter later, the decidedly hip multi-instrumentalists received one of the most thunderous ovations of any opening act I’ve witnessed in quite some time.” –PopMatters