The sound of the Blind Corn Liquor Pickers is the sound of the rowdiest of hootenannies in the biggest barn full of dancers, singing along to the music. Yet, they blur the traditional, swirl it around with the modern sound of electric guitars, the haunting voices of Beth Walker, Jory Bowling and others for a unique fusion of amazing music.
Filling the stage with eight members, the Blind Corn Liquor Pickers creates a massive sound, each musician masterful in his skill.
Beth sings most of the songs, with harmony from Jory and some other members. The full band consists of Beth Walker on vocals, Joel Serdenis on mandolin and vocals, Travis Young on banjo, Ben Vogelpohl on drums, Will Rush on bass, Jeoffrey Teague on electric guitar, Thomas Usher on percussion and vocals, and Jory Bowling on guitar and vocals. Together they create an impressive wall of sound.
Their songs, like their sound, varies from song to song and between singers. Beth and Jory carry most of the leading vocals, both having incredibly powerful and unique voices. Jory’s deep voice resonates, and Beth wails with a strong, steadfast voice. Others take some songs too such as Joel. The music, like the band’s long career, has changed and shifted as members change, as their genre is hard to define. Somewhere where Prog grass, bluegrass, country, rock and blues all mix together with the culture of the hills of Kentucky.
“The sound shifts and changes as new people comes in,” says Travis Young, one of the original members of the band that started eighteen years ago. Over two decades the lineup has changed often and their five CD’s vary from each other quite a bit. This latest CD, The Sentence, is strongly influenced by the addition of Jory Bowling and his songwriting. The different members take turns with songwriting as well, including Travis, Joel, Beth and Jory.
The Blind Corn Liquor Pickers are a testament to the love of making music. Anyone who knows about music performing knows it is not easy to get eight musicians in the same place at the same time. And dividing the spoils by eight makes no one wealthy, for certain. Weekly rehearsals, with several members of the band driving hours from their homes outside of Lexington so they can give their fans a high-quality performance, is a devotion. Their passion shows as soon as the show starts. “We put lots of time and energy into making a set we are very proud of,” says Beth.
The room was full that Saturday night at The Burl. Warmed up well by the Solid Rocket Boosters, followed by Senora May and Johnny Conqueroo, the Liquor Pickers took to a welcoming stage by 11 that night.
Filling the stage with the band and the room with their sound, the excited fans were amped up and ready to enjoy the gift of music the band offered. The new CD was six years in the making, many in the crowd knew the words to the songs and sang along with joyful devotion.
Representative of their diversity as musicians, The Sentence is a tapestry of the various musicians in the band, and no matter who is singing lead the rest of the band often joins together in a chorus that inevitably is joined by the crowd, and the entire room resonates with the pleasure everyone is having. That is the joy of the Liquor Pickers, the inevitability of moving your feet and dancing along, because that is what this music is made for. Singing of moonshine and mining and the trials of life as you journey down its road, the band creates the rhythm of working folks, and exactly the jubilation you need to dance it off on a Saturday night surrounded by a hundred or so of your fellow kinfolk dancing by your side, singing along to those hillbilly blues.
That is the sound of the Blind Corn Liquor Pickers, that blend of the old ways and the modern reality, and the folks trapped in the in-between.
From the devotion of their fan base, their “family” as they call them, the Liquor Pickers took it upon themselves to create the Moonshiner’s Ball five years ago, as a way to celebrate the music of Kentucky, back before Chris Stapleton, Sturgill Simpson and Tyler Childers put recent Kentucky music on the map.
A celebration of local talent is the foundation of the Blind Corn Liquor Pickers. They are a celebration of music, and their festival is the result of that love of music, love of Kentucky, and love for their fans who have loyally cheered them on for two decades.
