MERCER — The Maranacook String Band will bring their beautiful Appalachian-sounding vocal harmonies and hot instrumental skills to the Mercer Community Center on Saturday, July 25.
The String Band, which was founded at Maranacook Community High School in 2009 as part of the Gifted & Talented Education Program, has drawn large audiences and rave reviews all around Central Maine ever since, and has played at the Mercer Community Center before, always to an enthusiastic and appreciative crowd.
The band features two stellar young vocalists — 21-year-old Julie Churchill of Livermore, and 13-year-old Dana Reynolds of Wayne. “Individually or together, they sound like angels,” says band founder and director Stan Keach, himself a nationally-known Bluegrass songwriter who lately specializes in writing songs about Maine topics.
Keach’s 2012 CD, Cry of the Loon and other original songs about Maine, features members of the String Band, and includes such crowd-pleasers as Slow Down (You’ll Hit a Moose) and Logger’s Son. Instrumentally, the band also features two high school age instrumental virtuosos — fiddler Finn Woodruff and banjoist Davidson.
Maine writer George Smith has called Keach’s CD “a gift to Mainers,” and Phill McIntyre of New England Celtic Arts has said of the band, “Their soaring three-part harmonies belie their youth.” The band mixes up its show by juxtaposing hot instrumentals, side-splitting comedy, and poignant ballads.
The Community Center is located at 1015 Beech Hill Rd., right off Rte. 2. The concert starts at 7 p.m. Adults – $8; students 8 to 18 – $5; children 7 and under are free. Delicious refreshments will be available for sale at intermission. This concert will benefit the Mercer Community Center.
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