Athens, Georgia string band Curley Maple has elicited appreciation from fans of all styles of acoustic music for its inspired embrace of traditional fiddle music and contemporary style. The renowned and creative playing of ace fiddler David Blackmon is the driving force behind Curley Maple. He is complemented by the tight harmony singing of Noel Blackmon and Christian Lopez and their guitars, mandolins, and bouzouki, and upright bassist Chris Enghauser's prodigious skills and groove. An unconventional "trad. band," Curley Maple's figures drone and swirl, nodding to both old and new and branching across time with a blend of old-time and Celtic fiddle tunes, songs, ballads and
Original compositions.
David Blackmon is a well-known mandolin and fiddler whose roots are firmly planted in traditional and bluegrass music. In the 80's, he toured and recorded with country music legend Jerry Reed. David is also a founding member of Blueground Undergrass, a veteran of the Normaltown Flyers and has shared the stage with the likes of Vassar Clements, Sam Bush and Jerry Douglas. Having toured and recorded extensively with Widespread Panic, David is considered by many to be a pioneer in fusing bluegrass with blues, jazz and rock yet keeping old time sensibilities.
Noel Blackmon's multi-instrumentalism is well known in the Athens music scene. A veteran of many bands and groups over the 15 years, she is best known for her work with the eclectic world-music band Calliope Fair. Noel is equally at home on upright bass, accordion, piano and percussion, but it is her lead and harmony singing and elegant guitar and mandolin playing that stands out in Curley Maple. In 2005, Noel and David married in North Carolina at her family home in the Blue Ridge Mountains.
Christian Lopez, singer-songwriter and mandolin player, is a native son of Reno, Nevada. His path has taken him from the West to Austin, Texas to Athens, Georgia where he's also been a sideman in several string bands playing festivals and dances. In 2004, he released the acoustic Down By The Drowning Creek, a "through-the-glass-darkly look back into the 19th century" which garnered favorable reviews from the local press for its dark and lyrical ballads. His mandolin style combines fiddle and clawhammer banjo sounds to back David's fiddling.
Chris Enghauser has an MM in music performance on bass from the UGA and a BM in music performance from George Mason University. He also plays in the Macon Symphony as section bass. He is presently an Academic Program Specialist teaching jazz bass in the Jazz Studies Program at UGA. He has performed with Jeff Coffin, of Bela Fleck and the Flecktones, and played on his debut record "Commonality" which was nominated JazzTimes Indie record of the year in 2000. Featured along with Buddy Spicher on Mike Dowling’s "Swing Guitar" for Homespun Video and recorded for National Public Radio, Sugar Hill Records and Compass Records. Once a member of Roy ’Futureman’ Wooten’s "Roy-El Phi-Harmonics Orchestra" and of Badabing BadaBoom, he has also played with Sara Evans, Barbara Lamb, David Greir, The Columbus Symphony and Gainesville Symphony.
ATHENS, GA
The Georgia Theatre
The Melting Point
The Morton Theatre
The State Botanical Gardens of Georgia
AthFest Outdoor Stage 2008
It’s Friday Live Radio Show 91.7 FM
ATLANTA, GA
Eddie’s Attic
Red Light Cafe
SOUTHEAST
Mountain Medicine Radio Show
The Crimson Moon
Blackstock Winery (Dahlonega)
Habersham Winery (Helen, GA)
Oconee Center for the Arts (Watkinsville, GA)
Brandenburg Bluegrass Festival
(Brandenburg, KY)