Grassy Knoll Boys
What’s in a name? If it’s local quintet the Grassy Knoll Boys, quite a bit. Singer/guitarist Will Walden says it’s both an obvious reference to the JFK assassination and a play on the frequency with which “Boys” finds its way into the names of bluegrass ensembles. In a broader sense, he hopes the slightly macabre moniker taps into the “Faulknerian” elements of the genre.
“It’s sort of a joke, but not really a joke,” he explains.
Walden, Dobro player David Hamburger, mandolinist Alex Rueb, banjoist Mark Cavage, and bassist Vance Hazen have been together about a year. Instead of trotting out the same old standards by Bill Monroe, the Stanley Brothers, and Flatt & Scruggs, they’ve folded everything from minstrel blues to field hollers into the bluegrass idiom.
On their debut, Buckeyed Rabbit, just picked up by local label Genuine Recordings, the Boys give a bluegrass spin to traditional Texas tunes like the Brazos Valley work song “Old Hannah” and Deep Ellum blues “See That My Grave Is Kept Clean.” Meanwhile, originals like Hamburger’s “Chickens” and Walden’s “Darling Our Love” reflect a more contemporary outlook.
“It’s Americana,” Walden affirms, “but not gingham and overalls and square dancing.”
After months of playing Threadgill’s, Momos, and the Cactus Cafe, the Boys’ biggest gig to date looms Friday, opening for the Del McCoury Band at the Texas Union Ballroom. Walden previously crossed paths with McCoury’s outfit at an upstate New York festival back in college.
“Believe it or not, it was the same band,” the Uvalde native says. “His hair was still black.”
The Grassy Knoll Boys also play the Longbranch Inn Nov. 17.
This article appears in November 5 • 2004.