Well, after 7 years together, 4 or 5 years’ playing a regular show at Amnesia, 3 kids, 1 Hardly Strictly appearance, 1 showcase in Nashville, 0 endorsement deals (um, Lagunitas Brewing Co., do you know how much IPA Prentice and Nicole drink?), and 1.2 recordings, the Nellies have decided that it’s time to take a break.
We’re playing our last show* at Amnesia this month, on February 28. We’ll be joined by Nicole (Nellies) and Eric Embry (Burning Embers, Plain High Drifters) doing a little opening set and our good pals the Earl Brothers closing out
and goodbye. We’ve loved every minute of playing for our friends, family, and fans over the better part of the past decade, and it just wouldn’t seem right if you all weren’t there to celebrate all the good music and fun times we’ve had.
Monday, Feb. 28 Amnesia, 853 Valencia St., San Francisco
8 pm ish Nicole Solis and Eric Embry
9 pm ish The Barefoot Nellies
10:15 pm ish The Earl Brothers Free!
If you haven’t picked up our CD, this may be your last chance. It’s sold out at CDBaby, and we’ll have a few copies to sell at the show. (You can, of course, always buy it from iTunes or Amazon.)
xoxo,
The Nellies
*We’re not going to pull a Barbra/Cher thing and call it our last ever show. The Nellies will never die. But we will be in hibernation for a bit.
We have been looking forward to this Friday’s show for months. Not only are we playing at the fabulous Ashkenaz (the last time we played there, we opened for Hot cialis online Buttered Rum), but we’re playing with one of our favorite bands, Windy Hill. We have never met any band who gets more excited about traditional bluegrass than these folks do. They honed their skills back in Colorado and have that great Open Road sound. You can’t find a band
We interrupt our regularly scheduled Nellies-only posts for this non-Nellies news about an event Nicole threw together…
Bill Monroe Tribute Night at Amnesia
Monday, September 6
One month before the Hardly Strictly Bluegrass Festival takes over Golden Gate Park, Amnesia is hosting a truly strictly bluegrass night, dedicated to the man who founded the genre, Bill Monroe. Celebrating Monroe’s 99th birthday, three acts will be performing his music, all from different eras of Monroe’s career, for free at Amnesia on Labor Day.
Eric Embry (Burning Embers, Shed House) and Nicole Solis (Barefoot Nellies) will start off the night playing a happy hour set of songs from the Monroe Brothers. Featuring Bill and his guitar-playing brother Charlie, the Monroe Brothers was Bill Monroe’s first professional band, performing and recording in the early 1930s.
Grass Boys played it from 1945 to 1947. Why those years? Though Monroe formed the Blue Grass Boys in the late 1930s, he made the brilliant decision in 1945 to hire banjo player Earl Scruggs and guitar player and singer Lester Flatt. Together, they created the modern bluegrass sound: driving banjo, tight three-part harmonies, and breakneck tempos. The Pleasant Valley Boys hew close to Monroe’s style musically and visually, dressing in period 1940s clothes and performing around a single microphone.
The Monroe Tribute Band, put together by renowned Monroe-style mandolin player Butch Waller (High Country), features some of the local bluegrass scene’s heaviest hitters: Larry Cohea (High Country, Blue and Lonesome) on banjo, Paul Shelasky (David Grisman, Good Ol’ Persons), Chris Smith (Mighty Crows), and Matt Dudman (Pleasant Valley Boys). They’ll tackle the rest of Monroe’s more than 60-year career, offering up some stellar picking and great singing.
After the bands play, we’ll invite some of the musicians in the audience to come onstage and sing or play their favorite Monroe songs and maybe even tell their favorite Monroe stories.
Monday, September 6
Amnesia
853 Valencia St. (between 19th and 20th Sts.)
San Francisco, CA
Happy hour set at 7:30
Bands start at 8:30
21 and over
Free
Contact: Nicole Solis (nicole at barefootnellies dot com).
Two quick corrections: Adam “Roscoe” Roszkiewicz, despite being a dude, is a full-fledged member of the Nellies. And Chuck Poling’s awesome quote is from his profile of the Nellies
We’ve got a real fun show coming up this Thursday. The Nellies will be venturing over to the East Bay for an evening of sassy lady singers and boot-stompin’ bluegrass and Western swing. We’ll be ope
It’s only been two months since we played Amnesia, but it feels like a lifetime. Who knew this bimonthly schedule would be so hard on our bluegrass hearts? So come join us as we head back to our favorite bar. It’s gonna be a good time. You know it
The Barefoot Nellies at Hardly Strictly Bluegrass. Photo by Ray Bussolari.
We’ve been hearing that a lot lately. Thanks for asking!
We’re playing at Amnesia on Monday, April 26 and at the Starry Plough on Thursday, May 6, so if you live in the Bay Area, there’s a Nellies show near you
sometime soon. But if you haven’t seen as many gigs on our calendar lately, it’s for a couple of good reasons.
First of all, it’s wedding season. The Nellies love to play at weddings, and we do it a lot this time of year. What could be more fun than a wedding? Everybody’s having a good time. You’ve got the happy
couple, of course, but there’s also the kids in party clothes rolling ecstatically on the lawn and the grownups cutting the rug. At a wedding a couple of years ago, the bride’s grandfather sat in with us on fiddle for a few songs. Maybe we’re hopeless romantics, but we think a wedding is pretty much a dream gig.
And also, we’re getting started on another recording. If you’ve done any recording yourself, you know that’s not a quick and easy project. But we’re very excited about it, and we promise to keep you posted.
Our first-ever gig, at Amnesia, August 2004. Our fashion sense has certainly evolved.
Hey, folks–
About four years or so ago, the Nellies played our first monthly show at Amnesia. Since then, we’ve returned to that crimson-hued room on the fourth Monday of every month to play for pretty much the best crowd that a band could hope for.
This Monday, February 22, will be our last monthly gig at Amnesia–but never fear! We’ll be back on our regular day in the even-numbered months. But in the odd-numbered months, you can rely on other fine, fine bands for your bluegrass entertainment.
So come on down this Monday and celebrate the end buy cialis online without a prescription of an era with us. And thanks for all your support over the years. We can’t tell you how much fun it is to play for people who are so determined to have a great time–dancing, chatting, hootin’ and hollerin’–on a Monday night. You’re troopers. So come on down, bring your requests, and be sure to yell ‘em out real loud. Amnesia is our favorite place to play, and it’s all because of you, you, you.
We just saw Northern California Bluegrass Society Awards nominations, and the Nellies done garnered ourselves quite a few nominations! We’re so honored to be up for best band, female vocalist, guitar player (for our mando player, somehow), mandolin player, bass player, and fiddle player.
awards are announced every year as part of the NCBS’s Bluegrass on Broadway festival in Redwood City. If you like bluegrass (and if you’re reading this, we bet you do), it’s a great chance to see a lot of the really fabulous Northern California bluegrass bands all in one place.
