Cherryholmes

By Deborah Evans Price

NASHVILLE (Billboard) - Festivals have long been the bread and butter of any bluegrass act's career, but the band Cherryholmes is taking a novel approach by hitting the performing-arts-center circuit.

In the process, the group is expanding its audience and bringing bluegrass flavor to the cultured palates of such venues' clientele.

The six-piece family band formed in 1999 and has quickly become one of the most successful acts on the bluegrass circuit, earning a Grammy Award nod for its self-titled debut.

"Toby Tumarkin with Columbia (Artists Management) approached us after we won entertainer of the year," said Jere Cherryholmes, patriarch of the group, which received the International Bluegrass Music Assn.'s top accolade in 2005.

"They book primarily performing arts centers, and he said they'd liked to try bluegrass and see how it would do," Jere said. "Most of the venues that they book had never had any bluegrass. So he booked some dates, and they were all relatively successful. Now we've got a lot of dates this year, probably about 60."

The band began playing performing arts centers in 2006. This year, stops include the Sunset Center Theater in Carmel, Calif.; Capitol Arts center in Bowling Green, Ky.; and the Tulsa Performing Arts Center in Tulsa, Okla.

"Cherryholmes made the jump from festivals to theaters much faster than normal," said Tumarkin, who is vice president at CAMI, a 77-year-old company best known for working with classical artists.

The band is on the road in support of "Cherryholmes II: Black and White," released June 12 on Skaggs Family Records and currently in its second week at No. 1 on Billboard's Top Bluegrass Albums chart.

Jere's wife, Sandy, still books most of the band's bluegrass/festival dates, coordinating the group's schedule with Tumarkin. "We still do a lot of festivals," Jere said. "We're playing upwards of 170-180 dates and the performing arts centers are maybe a third of that."

Jere said the setting at these newer shows is very different from that of festivals, where people tend to mill around. Performing-arts audiences, on the other hand, are seated and quiet.

"People are dressed up, and they serve wine and cheese," he said. "It's kind of strange to be playing bluegrass to a crowd like that, but it really has been a great experience for us."

Reuters/Billboard