Nothin' Fancy
| Nothin' Fancy | |
|---|---|
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| Background information | |
| Origin |
Timberville, Virginia, United States Buena Vista, Virginia Lexington, Virginia Manassas, Virginia |
| Genres |
Folk Country Americana Bluegrass |
| Years active | 1994–present |
| Labels | Mountain Fever Records, Pinecastle |
| Website | Official Site |
| Members | Mike Andes Mitchell Davis Chris Sexton Tony Shorter Caleb Cox |
| Past members | Gary Ferris Buster Sexton Frankie Hawkins Darin Lawrence Bill Ledbetter Eli Johnston Justin Tomlin Jesse Smathers |
Nothin' Fancy is an award-winningbluegrass band based in Buena Vista, Virginia and was formed in September 1994. The band's history is traceable to its parent band called East Coast Bluegrass Band, which was formed in Summer of 1985 with the purpose of competing in the East Coast Bluegrass Championship in Crimora, Virginia.
The East Coast Bluegrass Band, the group which would evolve into Nothin' Fancy, was formed in 1994 to compete in the East Coast Bluegrass Championship in Crimora, Virginia. After winning the contest, the band kept the name and continued to play together at local functions. In 1986 the group won the Virginia Folk Music Society State Bluegrass Band Championship. The members of the band developed some original material, but remained true to the traditional style of the great bluegrass bands of the 1940s and 1950s.
In 1998 the band release an album, Life's Mysteries. The line-up of the band at that time was Buster Sexton on banjo, Mike Andes on mandolin, Frankie Hawkins on guitar, Darin Lawrence on rhythm guitar, Bill Ledbetter on bass, and Buster's son Chris Sexton on fiddle. The younger Sexton joined the group at the last minute as a replacement for Mitchell Davis, who left the group in May 1997.
A new group had been formed in 1994 called Nothin' Fancy. Mike Andes and Mitchell Davis (now on banjo) joined forces with Justin Tomlin on guitar, Tony Shorter on bass, and Guy Carawan on fiddle to play the same East Coast Bluegrass Championship in September 1994 that East Coast Bluegrass Band had once played almost a decade earlier. Nothin' Fancy released their first project "Bluegrass in a Plain Brown Wrapper" shortly afterwards, but Carawan left the group shortly after the release, and the group continued as a quartet.
Nothin' Fancy and East Coast Bluegrass Band continued to coexist until 2000 when East Coast Bluegrass Band's members drifted apart and had to reorganize. Andes had been doing double-duty with both groups and eventually chose to work with Nothin' Fancy solely. Chris Sexton, who had appeared with Nothin' Fancy for their first-place victory in the band competition at the Maury River Fiddler's Convention in 1998 and recorded as a guest fiddler on the band's second and third releases ("Earn Your Ticket" and "Field of Dreams," respectively), officially became the newest member of Nothin' Fancy in 2000. The fourth project, Now and Then is the first album to feature the five-piece group as it is today.
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