From an early age, Rowan had an interest in music and eventually learned to play the guitar. At the age of twelve he heard Elvis Presley for the first time and later, in junior high school, he formed a rockabilly band, the Cupids. Influenced by the blues musician Eric Von Schmidt+More

From an early age, Rowan had an interest in music and eventually learned to play the guitar. At the age of twelve he heard Elvis Presley for the first time and later, in junior high school, he formed a rockabilly band, the Cupids. Influenced by the blues musician Eric Von Schmidt, Rowan traded his electric guitar for an acoustic and began to play the blues. He was also influenced by the folk sound of Joan Baez. In college he discovered bluegrass after hearing The Country Gentlemen and The Stanley Brothers. He soon discovered the music of Bill Monroe and with some help from banjo playerBill Keith, he was to audition for Monroe who invited him to Nashville. Accompanied by Keith, Rowan went to Nashville and was hired in March 1965 as guitarist and lead vocalist of Monroe's Bluegrass Boys. His recording debut as a "bluegrass boy" took place on October 14, 1966 and he recorded a total of fourteen songs with Monroe before his tenure ended in the spring of 1967.

The Mosier Brothers: 

The Rev. Jeff Mosier understands the importance of occasionally re-inventing one's self. Especially when you’ve turned 50 years old, and are suddenly aware that time has become far more precious. “Some people are threatened by starting over,” he says. “Me, I love it. I really do.” 

In late 2009, Mosier decided to put Blueground Undergrass — the band he had fronted for more than a decade — on hiatus. That group recorded four albums and built a sizeable following by combining bluegrass purism with a jam band sensibility. Mosier liked to describe the sound as “psychedelic hick-hop.”

Ultimately, he began to realize he’d grown weary of playing loud music in bars; it overwhelmed the content of the words he sang every night. “We used to call that band a ‘wall of twang,’ and it was a lot of fun,” he says. “Now it’s a different time. I think people really want to hear ‘songs’ right now. I want to be held accountable for the lyrical content.”

That’s what led to the formation of THE MOSIER BROTHERS, a band fronted by three of the core players of Blueground Undergrass: Jeff Mosier on banjo and vocals, Johnny Mosier on guitar and background vocals, and David Blackmon on fiddle. 

The jamming is still there, so is the intuitive musical interplay that was the hallmark of Blueground Undergrass. What’s different is the Mosier Brothers sound is quieter. The core band is all traditional acoustic string instruments with acoustic bass(Dustin Sargent) and a kinder gentler drum role with more percussion ideas (Jack Watson). “The fiddle, banjo and acoustic guitar are the original disco sound,” Jeff Mosier says. “Bluegrass was the disco music of the moonshiners.”

Both brothers grew up steeped in traditional bluegrass music. Together, they fronted an acoustic bluegrass-flavored band called Good Medicine for nearly 23 years. During the ‘80s, they also hosted a popular bluegrass radio show on WRFG-FM in Atlanta called “Born in a Barn.” In one of the most popular segments, budding musicians would call the studio and perform on-air via the telephone with the brothers jamming along with them.

One night after doing a show in 1989, Mosier was walking around Little Five Points with a friend and saw “Col. Bruce Hampton and the Arkansas Florists” advertised on a club marquee. Mosier’s friend told him Hampton was a legend, so he decided he’d better stop in. 

Hampton is a founding father of Atlanta’s modern music scene, and the driving force behind the city’s first prominent rock group, the Hampton Grease Band. In recent years, he’d gained a reputation for nurturing musicians and giving them the freedom to perform rock music in a free-form, jazz-influenced context. He liked to call it “going out,” as in going outside traditional limits. “Going out” was about to influence an entire generation of musicians, and Hampton would serve as the movement’s guru.

“When I heard that music, it was so strange that I didn’t know whether to run or stay,” Mosier says. “I guess my curiosity kept me there.” A few days later, he put an electric pick-up in his banjo and began to sit in with Hampton.

The band Hampton was in the process of forming became the seminal group of the jam band scene: Col. Bruce Hampton and the Aquarium Rescue Unit. “It was just a magical time,” Mosier says. “Great art is created when a tradition is broken. Bruce is the greatest permission giver. He expects, and allows, those around him to completely be themselves without judgment.”

Mosier stayed with the ARU during its formative years, then spent much of 1994 touring with Phish, and teaching that group about bluegrass. He kept thinking of how he could merge the two worlds: jam band rock ‘n’ roll and traditional folk music. 

The idea finally crystallized in 1997 when Mosier sat in with Widespread Panic at the Fox Theatre in Atlanta. With them that night was a fiddler named David Blackmon, who had played second guitar behind Jerry Reed as a kid and had performed on Widespread Panic’s debut album. That night, Mosier and Blackmon jammed on the folk standard “Old Joe Clark” and discovered an instant connection. After the show, Mosier told Blackmon he wanted to put together a jam band that played bluegrass, or maybe it was a bluegrass band that played rock. And Mosier wanted to play off that dichotomy; rather than call themselves “Bluegrass Underground,” the name would be “Blueground Undergrass.”

Joining them was Johnny Mosier, whose ability to play quick bluegrass lines on the acoustic guitar and sinewy lead licks on the electric became a vital part of the band’s sound. The line-up was rounded out by pedal steel guitarist Mark Van Allen. Rhythm sections came and went but for most of the history of Blueground Undergrass, those four were the band’s core foundation.

The group quickly found success on the jam band circuit. “The kids were fascinated by it,” Mosier would say. “They had never seen a pedal steel and a banjo played like that. They heard bluegrass, but right in the middle we would go into something that would trigger their Phish or Widespread sensibilities.”

He views the Mosier Brothers as a middle ground between the traditional sound of Good Medicine and the “wall of twang” of Blueground Undergrass. “Good Medicine is the original recipe for pretty much everything we’ve done,” he says. “And this will be quieter music than Blueground Undergrass.”

In a sense, it is that last band reigned in. “We’re getting broad by going narrow,” says Mosier. “Going back in, in order to go out.”

A major part of that is making sure the audience can hear the lyrics he’s singing. Mosier wants to evoke both message and mood, an intention that wasn’t always possible over the loud rumble of Blueground Undergrass. “I love the music of people like Harry Chapin and Guy Clark and Townes Van Zandt, the story-telling aspect,” Mosier says. “Townes’ music was almost like an inside joke, and he didn’t care if you didn’t get it. But if you did, there was a whole secret world there.”

One of the Mosier Brothers’ first shows, at the Five Spot in Atlanta, clearly showed the potential of the new sound. Joining the core three members on stage was a bass player with a stand-up bass, and a drummer who played most of the songs using brushes. The band played a mix of traditional bluegrass tunes, original material and contemporary folk songs. They still jam, but the lyrics — and the sweet harmonies of the Mosier brothers — now sit in the front seat.

One new song that reflects the vision for the band is Richard Shindell’s “The Courier.” It’s a mid-tempo ballad that tells one soldier’s story, and features a haunting fiddle solo by Blackmon. Performing it live requires a delicacy that wouldn’t have worked with Blueground Undergrass.

Standing backstage at the Five Spot, Mosier says he doesn’t harbor aspirations to make a huge commercial splash. “I’m 50 years old and I play the banjo, so I’m obviously not too ambitious,” he quips.

But what he does hope for is that the acoustic sound of the Mosier Brothers will open up new avenues for the music he and his brother and Blackmon have played together for more than a decade. “Blueground Undergrass was one idea I had, but I have others,” says Mosier. “I want to do more than play liquor stores with PA systems, which is essentially what a bar is. We’re hoping to play theaters and venues where we’ll be able to tell the stories and connect with people.”

He says it’s important to remember that Good Medicine got its name because the music they play makes people feel good. “I want to have fun on stage, to be able to be funny and tell stories,” says Mosier. “I’m excited about it. I’m nervous. But I’m happy.”

And that’s the sweet feeling of having started over.