Album Notes

Buddy and Tina Wright are 16 and 14 years old, they're from Lubbock, Texas and they play bluegrass. Probably, not many Texan teenagers play bluegrass. The story gets even more exceptional, because Buddy (fiddle, banjo, lead guitar and vocal) and Tina (fiddle, mandolin, vocal) who are getting some help in their band by pop Ray on guitar and mom Pat on bass and harmony vocal, are African-Americans. After all, the weird and wonderful world of bluegrass is very much a white man's world, so what's the attraction for a bunch of black kids?

Obviously, music is almost never "white" or "black." Certainly in the case of American traditional music, there has always been cross-pollination; there is a common cultural heritage. Buddy and Tina Wright's blend of bluegrass is heavily influenced by string band, old-time and gospel music which they learned from their grandmother in South Carolina. Mother Pat recognized the musical interest of the kids at a very young age and found them a classical violin and piano teacher for as long as the money lasted. The kids took it from there themselves. It was Buddy who recruited father Ray for the band and taught him how to play the guitar. Pat joined on bass and harmony vocals and the Buddy and Tina Wright Band could go on the road. In the States they played churches, they played festivals and last year, the European World of Bluegrass was happy to invite them over and, as this album shows, they had the time of their lives, band and audience alike.
The Live in Holland album was recorded on June 9, 2003 at the Big Bear Festival, the closing event of the European World of Bluegrass, in Zuidlaren, Netherlands. Produced by American expat Liz Meyer, it demonstrates Buddy and Tina's musical skills as much as their youthful charm with which they bewitched the Dutch audience. It just makes me wish I could have been there which is exactly what a live recording should be all about.

- Marianne Ebertowski -