Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, February 14, 1992 TAG: 9202130091
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-5 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: JOE TENNIS CORRESPONDENT
DATELINE: BLACKSBURG LENGTH: Medium
BOW SHAKERS KEEP FLAT-FOOTER MOVING
Nothing makes Bill Richardson more happy than seeing folks kick up their heels when he's picking his guitar or playing his fiddle.Richardson is lead singer for The Bow Shakers, one of the New River Valley's leading outfits on the Appalachian music scene.
"We like to get the audience involved. We really enjoy it when they get up and flatfoot," he said.
The group plays every Tuesday night from 9 p.m. to midnight, at Roni's - at 108 N. Main St. - in Blacksburg. Admission is free.
"We love it when somebody pops through Roni's and they don't know what going on. When those people get up and flatfoot. . . . what we really enjoy is initiating [them] into Appalachian music and dance," Richardson said.
The energy flowing from the year-old trio is impossible to shut out. Roars pour through the packed pub.
You can't pass through Roni's without sliding across the dance floor. You may dance a little just to get to other side. But before you know it, you're flat-footin' and making new friends.
Soon, you'll be singing. But don't worry if you don't know the words: A holler will do.
When the music stops, it's time to chat. But when it starts again, you'll feel the floorboards shake.
Everyone wonders when to jump. Really, though, it doesn't matter. Whenever you feel like cutting loose is cool.
"We play real dance music. . . . It's not bluegrass, really. It's old-time music. And old-time fiddle music equals dance music," said Richardson, 37.
He calls it "frolic music" - the kind ready for one, big, musical party.
In addition to Richardson, a computer programmer at Virginia Tech, the Bow Shakers include Tina Liza Jones of Floyd on banjo and guitar, plus Bill Blevins of Claytor Lake on fiddle and banjo. Blevins is a designer at Tech; Jones, a professional musician, is a former member of Trapezoid.
"We don't stick on one instrument. We trade instruments around. We get different sounds, like we're two bands in one," Richardson said.
Members of the group - which also performs at square dances and coffeehouses - have performed as part of the local music scene for over 10 years. "There's a fairly large community of what you call old-time musicians around here. They're always getting together," Richardson said.
Primarily, the Bow Shakers play a broad range of traditional Southern music, from early minstrel songs to contemporary pieces written by members of the band. Most tunes are heavy on fiddle. "Most likely you'll hear us doing music you've never heard before," Richardson promises.
His originals are historical interpretive songs. One, "Long March Tomorrow," is about the Civil War.
Another original, "Ingles' Lament," is sung in the character of William Ingles, whose wife, Mary Draper Ingles, was captured by Indians in 1755 at Drapers Meadows, now part of Tech's campus.
Richardson, a Blacksburg resident, said he's always been a fan of local history. "Appalachian music and history mean a lot to me."