The Rumpke Mountain Boys at Canal Street
With
Special Guest Blue Moon Soup
By Jimmy Cummings
The crowd
arrived early at Canal Street Tavern in anticipation of what promised to be a
great evening of Bluegrass. Thursday night’s line-up: Cincinnati’s The Rumpke
Mountain Boys with special guest Blue Moon Soup. If you have never been to a
show at Canal Street Tavern, you have no idea what you’re missing. In my
opinion, Canal Street is one of best venues and a Dayton gem. First up on stage
was the Blue Moon Soup from right up the road in Yellow Springs, Ohio.
I first
met Ben Clonch (Guitar, Vocals), Robbie Marion (Fiddle, Vocals), and Jon Bauman
(Bass, Vocals) about a week earlier at Jimmy Hamden’s Mother Earth Day Festival
in Franklin. The band opened that show and put on a great performance, so I was
really looking forward to see what the boys had in store for tonight. Talking
to Ben before the show, we asked if they had anything special in store for the
show and he gave us a big smile and said “you bet, real special.” Band mate Brendan
Moore (Mandolin, Vocals) joined the band after missing last week’s show for
personal reasons. Along with banjo player… the band took the stage and gave the
audience an awesome set of Bluegrass. With fan favorites like Southbound and…
Blue Moon Soup is quickly becoming a local favorite. Ben promised something
special and they delivered, playing their version of Led Zeppelin’s No Quarter
with Brendon on vocals. I could not think of a better way to end a magnificent
set.
The stage was still hot, so when Rumpke
took the stage they wasted little time turning up the heat. I hate when bands
get thrown into a particular genre. I will try not to do that here. While the
Rumpke Mountain Boys may appear to be a “Bluegrass” band, to me their music
goes way beyond traditional Bluegrass. The band: Jason Wolf (Banjo/Vocals), Ben
Gourley (Mandolin/Vocals), Adam Copeland (Guitar/Vocals), and Travis Gates (Bass/Vocals)
offer fans with plenty of great original work like Cincinnati Moon as well as
covers from artist like the Grateful Dead and even Pink Floyd.
