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Faster than the speed of bluegrass!

Train Whistle Blues

Where the Rain Hits the Ground

The Public String Band

From 2014-2020 David Clark Carroll hosted a traditional bluegrass jam at the Ol Republic Brewery in Nevada City. One of the best things about a jam in Nevada County is the wide range of pickers that live nearby, and forming the Public String Band was a way to dig a little deeper into tunes than the jam format allows. There was a deep bench of talented pickers out there and every show David would bring together familiar faces to create something new.

This is a fantastic tune, written by Roy Acuff and arranged by Doc Watson

Rudy does a wonderful job on this old chestnut

I learned this version from the John Hartford String Band and Mike Compton

Frank Wakefield wrote this and its oh so fun

Jamie does a great job singing this one for us

The band has played a wide range of gigs from opening for Merrygold at the Kentucky Mine Amphitheater to backyard parties and even a few weddings. The Public String Band is a shredadelic but very traditional bluegrass band with a large repertoire of hard driving tunes rooted in the classics. 

Musicians and guests over the last several years include bassists James Pritchett, Karl Chelette and Paul Doty (also on banjo), Kyle Kunert on banjo as well as Past Due and Playable banjo shredder Paul Siese, Mei Lin Heirendt from Boston Ravine on fiddle, Nick Dauphinias on mandolin, Kathy Barwick on dobro,  Mary Curtin has played both fiddle and bass, guitarists include Russ Fritz, Jamie Ervin, Anton Herrera and David, and the original, the great, the outlandishly talented Rudy Darling on fiddle, vocals and general excellence.