The buzz continues to build for Cherryholmes.
The family band that has four Grammy nominations under its collective belt is lined up for another now that the band’s latest album, “Cherryholmes IV: Common Threads,” has received popular and critical acclaim. Although parents Jere and Sandy are the foundation of the band, it’s their four offspring — Cia, 26; Molly, 17; B.J., 21; and Skip, 20 — whose writing and playing seem to have launched the band into its next phase.
“Basically I taught them more like front-porch style,” Sandy said. “I might learn a song by buying a songbook and teaching myself, but then I taught them to imitate and they would interpret it in a much more relaxed, more natural way. … They’ve since developed [their musical expertise extensively] beyond that.”
Although the band has played together for about a decade, the fans who lined the meet-and-greet at its last local concert acted as if they were brand-new discoveries. Audience members asked the band members everything from how they developed their sound to what is the most difficult part of traveling with all family.
Perhaps the main point that came out of the meet-and-greet is that the Cherryholmes family truly operates as a band of equal individuals. That was apparent in the answers the group gave in the meet-and-greet, as it is in the band’s music.
“We create it as a group,” Sandy said of the band’s music, noting bluegrass great Ricky Skaggs, who owns the label on which the band records, gives them extensive creative freedom. “The producer takes what we have and tells us where we should fine-tune it.”
But that doesn’t always come easily. Sandy said beside learning to play under her tutelage, the members have spent countless hours enriching their knowledge of music and fine-tuning their technical expertise. Downtime often finds the siblings working together on harmonies, chords and other technical aspects of music.
“At any one time, one of them can be somewhere just jamming on something and it’s coming out to be just a really beautiful piece of music,” Sandy said. “It just comes from them naturally.”
Don’t think the group is akin to the Partridge Family, television’s fictional show from the 1970s. The Cherryholmes group is a family, and that includes complete frankness when it comes to music.
“We are brutally honest with each other about songs,” Cia said. “When you’re dealing with your siblings, it’s easy for anyone to say, ‘Why did you write that? What were you thinking?’ You can say more because you are family.”
