It may be that not too many people outside of the St. Louis area know about FolknBluesGrass, but a growing cadre of avid fans believes this will change. The four-piece group that offers an interesting blend of musical styles features guitar work by Brian Curran, mandolin by Steve Bauer, the bass support of Travis King. “Fred Altiere joined the band in 2006 with his friend Gig the frog,” according to the group’s Web site.

That quick listing of the players says very little about the musicianship of this gathering of fun guys. Curran is an extremely talented six-string man, doing an excellent job on lead and recreating a couple of Chet Atkins tunes nearly note for note. As the old boy in the crowd said, “That ain’t easy!”

Bauer’s mandolin serves as a rhythm instrument occasionally, but it is Bauer’s lead-playing that sometimes takes your breath away. With King handling the upright bass with equal ability and Altiere playing every percussion instrument (including the kitchen sink) the crowd is in for a musical treat whenever FolknBluesGrass appears. Curran and Bauer do a fine job on both cover tunes and original songs, with Altiere and King joining in for backup vocals and a lead vocal now and then.

Curran has a couple of CDs of his own, while the band recently started offering an independently produced collection.

Tags: indie, FolknBluesGrass, indie music, music, independent music