Spotlight on …
Jeff And Benares
performing at The Blue Vine SaturdayJeff Angeley and Benares Finan-Eshelman write and perform acoustic music that is steeped in tradition and exciting and new. They can be humorous and melancholy.
Whether they are performing as a duo with their band, The Rusty Stringbandits, playing traditional Appalachian music or their own finely crafted original songs, they are lively, soulful, and captivating.
Jeffrey Angeley has been performing professionally for over a decade. Jeff has played in bars, at major festivals, on the streets of many cities, at concert series in Ireland, for the elderly in nursing homes, for big, bad motorcycle dudes, for drunken fishermen, for folks buying fruits and vegetables and even for throngs of little kids with the ever popular and beloved Toe Jam Puppet Band.
Jeff picked up a trumpet when he was 9 and he’s been adding to his arsenal of instruments ever since. He plays fiddle, guitar, mandolin, and steel regularly while performing, and is often hired by others to play upright bass or trumpet. And he can sing, too.
He engages audiences as well as fellow band members with his quick wit and stockpile of jokes and stories. His songwriting skills are second to none. Jeff plays more than 200 shows a year.Benares Finan-Eshelman was raised in a cabin built by her daddy in the mountains of Virginia, where she first heard the old songs and ballads on her mother’s knee. Years later, she learned to frail the banjo from Riley Baugus of Cold Mountain and Red Hots fame in her adopted state of North Carolina. Since that time, she has expanded her repertoire to include not only vocals and banjo, but guitar and accordion as well.
Her songwriting has been described as “downhome” and “straight from the heart.” Her singing is featured unaccompanied in the film “Ball of Wax” by independent film maker Daniel Kraus and she has shared the stage with such national touring acts as The Mammals, Luther Wright and the Wrongs, and Steppin’ In It.
Jeff and Benares love their music, and they are darn good at making it lovable for their audience, too.
Learn more about Jeff and Benares at www.jeffandbenares.com. n n n
Jeff and Benares will be performing 8:30-11:30 p.m. Saturday at The Blue Vine, 209 S. Main St. For more information, call 704-797-0093.