Lunch of Champions

Pocahontas County - I think I want to move there!

Ever seen a banjo player get so pumped up that he started yelling at the crowd? Ever see a banjo player run into the crowd and start headbanging to the groove of the bluegrass tune he is picking?

Neither did I until I saw Pocahontas County’s banjoist, Colin Anderson, break jump into a rowdy mix in the crowd during the middle of a banjo solo.

Pocahontas County is a bluegrass band that has the persona of Metallica. Underneath the band members’ suit-and-tie outfits lie six of the rowdiest bluegrass experts you’ll ever see.

Frontman guitarist, Jackson Buxton, an elder statesman of the local bluegrass scene, tends to sit in the background and let his more youthful bandmates, led by Anderson and upright bass spinning, Justin Bruhn, make sure the crowd knows they came to rock. And usually the crowd knows this, as Pocahontas County’s fans are some rowdy S.O.B.’s themselves.

At a recent show at St. Paul’s Turf Club, I witnessed two drunken regulars start a moshpit next to a couple of youthful couples dancing away unaware of the potential injury straying near.

Pocahontas County - Sittin’ On Top of the World

The shows regularly are packed shoulder-to-shoulder with people dancing and jiving away to the swingin’ grooves and impressive soloing of fiddlist/mandolinist, Jake Hyer. Hyer, a man of many talents, has also been known to sport a washboard if the occasion fits.

The group’s self-titled LP can be purchased exclusively at the band’s shows.

Summary: Come see these guys rock out. Not for the faint of heart. Definitely good first-date material.