A crowd of people clapping, stomping, dancing and singing along blends with the sounds of guitars, banjos, mandolins, banjolins, ukuleles, harmonicas, a washboard, fiddle, percussion items and blended harmonies of Southern-twanged voices all mesh together to create the sound of Rivers Crude. Their signature sound is a new approach to old-time music, part of a movement to bring back that Appalachia sound.
The crew met through mutual friends and jammed with each other first before eventually forming a band.
“I think it started when Chrissy and I played a coffeehouse,” said band member Trey Hall.
The folksy, bluegrass indie band is composed of Trey Hall, David Brunson, Tim Robinson, Nick Lee, Mike Ferster, Stu Kindle and Chrissy Epperson.
Brunson and Hall wrote many songs for the band inspired by the Jon Krakauer novel Into the Wild. Brunson opened up the book while trying to come up with a band name and saw the words “rivers” and “crude” across the margin from each other.
“It was perfect,” said Brunson.
Epperson said her favorite thing is how collaborative the band is.
“It’s not just business, we’re all friends,” said Epperson.
The band’s set list usually includes a mix of covers and original songs. But the songs they’re most proud of were written by them.
“We all write, all the time,” said Hall.
The songs are written in what they call “the band bible,” and they’ve never played a show without it. The band bible travels with the band and always contains their set list.
“If someone asked, ‘What keeps the band together?’, Chrissy and the band bible,” said Hall.
Although most members sing, Epperson takes on the role of lead female vocalist and has been singing since high school. She also agrees with the importance of the band bible.
“[The band bible] is a record of everything we’ve done,” she said.
Since the band has started, it has played shows at Greenwood Manor, Emilio’s, the Harvest Folk Fest, coffeehouses and house shows, Harvest Folk Fest being one of the band’s favorite performances.
“We got to play with all of our favorite [local] bands,” said Brunson. “The best audiences you can have are other musicians. People are there to hear music and nothing else.”
And Rivers Crude sure can draw a crowd no matter where they go.
“The best feeling is when I’m sitting in the back and I can see the floor bending,” said Ferster. “From my position I can really see the enjoyment of the band and the crowd.”
Rivers Crude doesn’t have a record yet but they are included in The Horn RVA’s upcoming yearly sampler of local Richmond bands and artists.
When asked where they envision themselves in a year, the band had high aspirations.
“With the right push and following, we could be playing festivals in the local area,” said Ferster.
This means Rivers Crude is here to stay, at least for a little while, said members of the group. They’re becoming better known by creating an ever-growing presence in Richmond.
They are currently looking to get in the studio. In the meantime, they can be found playing at local restaurants and venues.
And if there’s one thing people should know about the band, said Epperson, “We love cats and puns and hugs.”
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