Album Notes

Shalom Feivel and Rocky Mountain Jewgrass, launched in 2007, has quickly become a Colorado favorite, entertaining Jewish and non-Jewish audiences alike. The band provides an energetic and entertaining show, blending traditional bluegrass style playing with contemporary and classic Jewish themes and music. Great stage presence and a heavy dose of humor combine with beautiful harmonies and skilled musicianship to create a new form of Jewish music entertainment that delights audiences of all ages.

With a little “picklin’ and grinning”, and a “high lonesome kvetch,” Rocky Mountain Jewgrass is foot stompin’ fun. (But be careful you shouldn’t hurt yourself.)

Put a Huss & Dalton guitar in his hands and a microphone near his mouth and then watch public relations maven-by-day SAUL ROSENTHAL turn into Shalom Feivel, the band’s frumless leader.

GAIL DEVORE is NOT a violinist and she’s not shy about telling you the origin of the fiddle she plays each year at the Walnut Valley Festival. She grew up too close to Oklahoma and has the accent to prove it.

SANDY REAY took up playing bass because she wanted to hang around with a tall blonde. She agreed to join Rocky Mountain Jewgrass on the one condition that we let her tell jokes. She brings comic relief (and "Blondie") to rehearsals and gigs.

BEN COHEN plays every instrument he’s ever made – from upright basses to lutes to steel drums (which he insists we not call kettle drums). One of these days if we buy him a truck he’ll find a way to incorporate all of his instruments into our repertoire. Most of the time he plays banjo and mandolin.


What folks are saying about Shalom Feivel and Rocky Mountain Jewgrass:

“Swallow Hill was blessed with an exceptional concert by Shalom Feivel and Rocky Mountain Jewgrass during our annual Folk Festival in 2007. If the name seems a bit confusing, it also brings a great deal of pleasure and surprise by the excellent musicians and their hilariously entertaining stage presentation coupled with creative lyrics juxtaposing the unlikely blend of bluegrass and Jewish folk music."

Jim Williams,
Concerts & Festivals Director
Swallow Hill Music Association
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“Shalom Feivel and Rocky Mountain Jewgrass joined us at Congregation Emanuel on a beautiful Shabbat evening this summer. They combined great tunes, great humor and great pickin’ to create an unforgettable night. We would host them again in a heartbeat!”

Susie Sigman
Program Director
Congregation Emanuel

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“…local musician Saul Rosenthal – aka “Shalom Feivel” – and his quick-pickin Rocky Mountain Jewgrass band…hit the stage, proffering their signature sound, the “high lonesome kvetch,” to the tune of skilled string-band runs, pristine harmonies and a generous side of humor. You don’t have to be Jewish to get down with that.”

Westword
January 2008
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“It was wonderful. You are so much fun…everyone had a ball.”
Lannie Garret
Denver’s First Lady of Song
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“A new genre is born – mazal tov! Rocky Mountain Jewgrass had us, Jews and non-Jew alike, singin’, clappin’, dancin’ and laughin’ – a grand ole time. With five sets of strings to match their voices, they wove new connections between us in a way that only the miracle of music can manage.”
Reb Jamie Arnold
Congregation Beth Evergreen