Bands
Larry Wallace currently plays banjo with two of North Mississippi's most popular bands - a traditional bluegrass gospel group - Alan Sibley and The Magnolia Ramblers and a contemporary/progressive bluegrass group - The Cedar Creek Ramblers. More complete band information about past bands Larry has been a member of will be added soon, including Jimmy Martin and The Sunny Mountain Boys and others.
Alan Sibley and The Magnolia Ramblers
Mississippi native, Alan Sibley began his career in music playing mandolin with the Legendary First Family of Bluegrass Gospel “The Sullivan Family” in 2001 at the age of fifteen. During the first four years of his musical career Sibley toured almost continuously and played Bluegrass Gospel music in thirty states. After leaving “The Sullivan Family” Sibley worked with two of the Deep South’s more prominent bluegrass bands, “The Larry Wallace Band” and “Jerry & Tammy Sullivan”. After seven years of being a sideman in other groups, Sibley decided to form his own band. With musical roots deep in Bluegrass and Gospel music, Alan Sibley & The Magnolia Ramblers have performed across the United States since 2008.
Sibley was recently added to the Mississippi Arts Commission’s Artist Roster and has been voted The Magnolia State Bluegrass Association’s Male Vocalist of the Year in 2010, 2011, 2013 and Mandolin Player of the Year in 2011, 2012, 2013. Alan Sibley & The Magnolia Ramblers have been featured multiple times on RFD-TV’s Cumberland Highlanders Show.
Alan Sibley and The Magnolia Ramblers have an excellent repertoire consisting of standard and original gospel material, as well as traditional bluegrass songs and instrumentals. Anyone interested in booking this group at a church, concert, festival, or other event may contact (662) 617-3744 or email williamalansibley@yahoo.com. For more information about Alan Sibley and The Magnolia Ramblers go to www.alansibley.com
The Cedar Creek Ramblers
Originally formed in 2001, The Cedar Creek Ramblers quickly established themselves as one of the more powerful foursomes to come out of Northeast Mississippi. Covering country tunes from Merle Haggard, Hank Williams, Sr., and Johnny Cash to bluegrass standards by Bill Monroe, Jimmy Martin, Flatt and Scruggs and The Stanley Brothers.
Since their very first performance, The Ramblers have always been able to surprise the listener with a very diverse selection of tunes and songs and by their keen ability to adapt them to their bluegrass instruments. They are able to include bluegrass versions of AC/DC's "You Shook Me All Night Long", the Bee Gees' "Stayin' Alive", The Doobie Brothers' "Black Water", Aretha Franklin's "I Will Survive", The Marshall Tucker Band's "Can't You See", the Grateful Dead's "Friend Of The Devil", and a very driving cover of Guns 'N Roses' "Sweet Child 'O Mine".
Early on, the band had to adapt to "plugging in" their acoustic instruments in order to compete in volume with the larger sounds of other bands at the various outdoor festivals and other venues where they were booked. Even though this goes against bluegrass tradition, it enables the band to achieve the needed sounds for their genre-crossing selection of songs. You will love their versions of Pure Prairie League's "Amie", John Denver's "Thank God I'm A Country Boy", John Prine's "Paradise", Alabama's "Mountain Music", and their fast-paced rendition of Charlie Daniels' "The Devil Went Down To Georgia".
The Cedar Creek Ramblers have appeared at various college venues in Starkville at Mississippi State University, in Oxford at the University of Mississippi, in Hattiesburg at the University of Southern Mississippi, and in Jackson at Belhaven College. Highlights of The Ramblers appearances include a main stage performance at the Sturgis South Motorcycle Rally, Starkville's Cotton District Arts Festival and Bulldog Bash, Columbus' Market Street Festival, Jackson's Duling Hall, and Tupelo's Elvis Festival.
After a recent Ramblers performance a concertgoer was overheard saying, "I came to see The Cedar Creek Ramblers play bluegrass. The first six songs were by Gloria Gaynor, Lynyrd Skynyrd, The Eagles, Merle Haggard, The Guess Who, and Ben E. King. Not necessarily what you'd expect, and all the better for it!"
The Cedar Creek Ramblers are Hardluck Chuck on guitar, Larry Wallace on banjo, Willie Lewis on fiddle, and Mark Tribble on stand-up bass. You will definitely enjoy their hard-driving Rockin' Country Bluegrass!
