Long Journey Home: The Red Mountain String Band 50th Anniversary Concert – SOLD OUT!

Red Mountain String Band. the pioneering Americana group that was a mainstay of the mid-‘70s Columbus scene, returns to its hometown for a very special reunion concert at Natalie’s. It will be the first time the six musicians from the band’s signature lineup – Lisa Hogan, vocals; Rick Levin, guitar and vocals; Pete Remenyi, harmonica, dobro and vocals; Crystal Reeves, fiddle and vocals; Gary Hopkins, banjo; and Larry Nager, mandolin and Triple Washboard – will share a stage since the band’s 1976 breakup.

With its eclectic, high-energy mix of acoustic bluegrass, blues and jugband music, Red Mountain earned a reputation for always bringing the party. They scoured obscure old records for neglected songs, but Red Mountain was no dusty academic exercise. It was the age of “wooden music” when, thanks to soon-to be classic records like The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band’s Will The Circle Be Unbroken and the Deliverance soundtrack, bluegrass and other roots music found a new audience of long-haired kids joining the Appalachian migrants who’d made their way north for factory jobs. In that, Ohio resembled Austin’s Cosmic Cowboy scene, but with a bluegrass twist, as hippies and rednecks came together over a love of that High Lonesome Sound.

Red Mountain quickly drew a broad and sizable following, starting with their first gig in 1974 at Larry’s on High Street, a famed hipster dive where Phil Ochs played during his time in Columbus. They were soon performing all over the thriving Columbus bar scene, packing such venues as the Moonshine Co-Op, Mr. Brown’s Descent, Ruby Tuesday’s and the club that became its home base, The 5th String. They opened for The Earl Scruggs Revue at The Agora, performed on The Country Cavalcade radio show, played the Ohio Reformatory For Women in Marysville and at such legendary “Industrial Strength Bluegrass” old-school bars as Sam’s Bar & Grill in Dayton, Aunt Maudie’s in Cincinnati and Dick’s Cafe in Springfield. They toured throughout the Midwest, even in Buckeye enemy territory in Ann Arbor, Michigan, regularly selling out Mr. Flood’s Party, where, one memorable night, their audience included John Prine and Steve Goodman.

A bluegrass band in instrumentation, they tackled evergreens like Bill Monroe’s “On & On” and songs by the Stanley Brothers, Flatt & Scruggs and Dayton’s own Red Allen. But they could turn on a dime, morphing into a Delta stringband, powered by Lisa Hogan’s deep blues vocals, Pete Remenyi’s wailing harp and the scorching fiddle of Crystal Reeves. Rick Levin, adept at both blues fingerpicking and bluegrass flatpicking, kept the show moving with his trademark sardonic humor, while Gary Hopkins’ banjo drove like a runaway train on the bluegrass breakdowns, then trucked on down to New Orleans for some down-home blues. On mandolin, Larry Nager channeled his inner Bill Monroe, tossing in Yank Rachell country blues licks as the mood demanded. But he’s best-known for his unique Triple Washboard, shredding jugband material like “Take Me To That Land of Jazz” and “Blues My Naughty Sweetie Gives to Me.” The band’s manic eclecticism kept things fresh and exciting, and even audiences unfamiliar with the roots of all that music responded to the energy and passion of these  young musicians.

And though the original band stopped in the fall of 1976, the music never did. After Red Mountain, Lisa sang in rock bands while attending med school, and today, Dr. Hogan practices integrative/functional medicine in Raleigh, N.C., and sings at therapeutic sound baths. Gary played upright bass and tuba with the Hotmud Family and the Rugcutters, and now uses music in his ministry, working with inmates of the Ohio prison system and at churches in Southeast Ohio. Crystal played in the popular Columbus bands, Blackjack, Josie Wales Band and the DeMarco Bros. and is now based in Oregon, playing rock with Blue Lightning and The California Renegade Rock Orchestra.

Pete, Rick and Larry kept Red Mountain going until 1978, when they formed 5 Guys Named Moe with Bill Kerwin and Steve Diffenderfer. Larry left after a few months to join The Katie Laur Band in Cincinnati and later played with some of Ohio’s premier roots musicians, including Bluegrass Hall of Famer Red Allen, his son Harley and Frank Wakefield, as well as boogie woogie piano master Big Joe Duskin and King Records session drummer Phillip Paul. Since 1988, he has performed with NCTA Master of the 5 String Banjo Tony Ellis and his son William Lee Ellis, including opening the original Natalie’s in 2012. Larry moved to Kauai in 2018, where he plays bluegrass as well as Hawaiian music. Rick lives in Northern California, where he fronts the Americana band he co-founded in 2008, Cadillac Ranch. Pete remains one of Columbus’ busiest musicians, formerly playing bluegrass with the nationally known One Riot One Ranger and regional favorite Death By Banjo. Pete currently plays with The Wood Pickers and electric blues band Nightwalker.

So, don’t miss this special evening when the six members of Red Mountain String Band will make their long journey home, spanning half a century and thousands of miles to try to summon up some of that old magic one more time.

Food & Bar: Our full food and drink menu will be available before and during the show.