Nixon, Blevins & Gage

Location: R.A. Fountain

Nixon, Blevins & Gage are the epitome of what we’ve always called acoustic Carolina. Based out of the Triangle, they’ve  been entertaining Carolina audiences with their thumb & flat picking guitar playing for more than 20 years. Loosely based in bluegrass, they play the early country music popularized by Doc Watson and Merle Travis. The Raleigh N&O recently noted  “the juxtaposition of Nixon’s finger-style playing with guitarist David Blevins’ flat-picking results in an acoustic ambiance reminiscent of Doc Watson, John Hurt and Etta Baker.”

They’ve recorded six CDs and received popular acclaim from Bluegrass Unlimited, Bluegrass Today,  and County Records. It’s been 16 years since they played Fountain, but they’ve stayed plenty busy, picking at some of the region’s finest festivals & vemues: Merlefest, NC Museum of History, the IBMA World of Bluegrass, Home Town Opry, Pullen Park, Cary Fred Bond Park, Holly Springs Cultural Center, and Durham Centerfest among them. They’ve also played in shows with Mike Cross, Del McCoury, the Grasscats, Bill Leslie,  Joe Newberry, Clyde Edgerton, the Grascals, Larry Stephenson, and Lorraine Jordan & Carolina Road.

Larry Nixon, on vocals, is from Elkin, in the heart of bluegrass and mountain music. He’a played all types of music but has returned to his first love of continuing the tradition of acoustic and thumb-picking styles of guitar. Hw’a presented thumb-picking seminars at workshops with Wayne Henderson, Josh Goforth and Happy Traum and the NC Thumb and Finger Style Picking Association.  He’s also co-host of the PineCone bluegrass show on WQDR radio.

Steven Gage, on bass and harmony vocals, is from Columbus,  Ohio, and comes to bluegrass and mountain music from an interest in music in high school and college.  He was a DJ while a student at Duke and enjoys and plays all types of music.  

David Blevins is taking a medical leave from the group and Rex Williams will be sitting in for him for awhile. Rex is s super flatppicker and adds and supports the band’s tributes to Doc Watson and all the traditional pickers they admire. He recorded with his group, Untraveled Road, who played here several times in our first years, and also recorded a Live at RA Fountain CD.

 

Tags: acoustic Carolina, bluegrass, Concert, guitar, original, tradtional bluegrass