The Carolina Cud Chewers are a Carolina stringband devoted to preserving the force and beauty of classic performances made by musicians active in the recording of 78 RPM records in the 1920’s & 30’s. From their base of operations in Asheville, NC; Carolina Cud Chewers travel “all over” to play their traditional brand of Carolina String Band music. Although they do perform some of the old fiddle tunes from Southern Appalachia, they are at their best when performing the “white country blues” and “rural ragtime” of the mountains and the Piedmont.

Influenced by great Carolina stringbands of the 1920’s such as Charlie Poole And The North Carolina Ramblers, The Carolina Tarheels, and Wilmer Watts And His Lonely Eagles, the Cud Chewers play a variety of historic songs from traditional and popular sources. The Cud Chewers play music from a time of transition, when the rural South was becoming industrialized and for the first time musicians who had lived in relative isolation, found themselves playing with other musicians and creating what we now call country music.

More of a gang than a band, the instrumentation variously includes finger-style banjo, bowed cello, Hawaiian guitar, Spanish guitar, blue yodeling, mandolin, musical saw, bones, and fiddle. The Cud Chewers are led by core members Brody Hunt and Antone Costa, members of the semi defunct band, Blind Boy Chocolate And The Milk Sheiks. Their attention to historic detail along with their powerful singing and playing really makes them one of “Carolina’s Best!

Thursday, September 8, 2016

7 p.m. The Carolina Cud Chewers in Concert, Lipinsky Auditorium. Opening performance by the UNC Asheville Blue Grass Ensemble.