If you live in any major city in Georgia, Alabama, or Tennessee, or in any city with a population over ten people in the Carolinas, Virginia or Kentucky, then you can find a 'Bluegrass Brunch' on any given Sunday. It has become a very popular thing, and my old mates in The Georgia Mountain String Band play at least four brunches every weekend back in Atlanta. Fortunately for folks in Dallas, Spare the Horses is bringing the tradition West with four new dates at The Foundry in September and October (see the shows tab above, or follow us on Bandsintown for more information). The Foundry is one of our favorite spots and a perfect place to spend Sunday afternoon.

What most people don't know is that this tradition goes back to the original origins of Appalachian folk music. You see, back in 'the day', people worked in the fields or the mines six days a week for twelve hours or more. To blow off steam and celebrate the weekend, they would then have a square dance on Saturday night after the last shift of the week. Usually the band at the dance was no more than a duo with a fiddle and a banjo, but over time it evolved to the bluegrass and old time genres we know today.

So the next morning, everyone would wake up tired from a week of hard work, a long night of dancing, and inevitably, a moonshine hangover. Then, as the story goes, they would skip church and sleep late. Once they mustered up enough energy to face the daylight, they would find a local bistro that served rosemary potatoes, crab cake benedict and bottomless mimosas. Without fail, the two folks with the fiddle and banjo would start feeling better and begin playing to entertain the crowd until they all remembered they had to work the next day.

At least I think this is how it all started. Oral history is difficult to verify. 

So come out out to the foundry on 9/13, 9/27, 10/4 or 10/25 and enjoy our take on this rich tradition.