The Sky Blue Boys – Banjo Dan and Willy Lindner
A Living Tradition
In the mind’s eye, they’re standing on a humble stage somewhere – in a small-town Grange hall, a rural schoolhouse, an outdoor music park with plank benches for the spectators. Two fellows with a mandolin and guitar and a single microphone between them, their music nearly seamless, built of habit, their voices fused in the special blend produced by kinship. They were called “brothers duets,” and there was a period in the 1900s when this was the predominant format in American rural music, practiced by now-legendary teams of brothers on radio stations and personal appearances throughout the countryside.
In Vermont, Dan and Willy Lindner, The Sky Blue Boys, keep that tradition alive. And fresh. Like their mentors – the Monroe Brothers, the Delmore Brothers, and Bill and Earl Bolick (the Blue Sky Boys) – Dan and Willy have built up a large repertoire of wonderful old ballads, parlor songs, heart songs, and sacred numbers that still, in the 21st century, tell timeless truths. Both of them songwriters, the Sky Blue Boys also deliver their own material, and expand on the traditional instrumentation to incorporate a rich array of acoustic sounds. Their shows are packed with variety, energy, and fun.
These two brothers have played together for decades. They were featured instrumentalists, writers, and vocalists with the celebrated Vermont bluegrass band Banjo Dan and the Mid-Nite Plowboys, touring and recording extensively until the band’s retirement in 2012. But never far from their hearts were the sounds they learned to love long ago – the simple moving sounds of the early “brothers duets.”
It’s that evocative and soul-stirring sound that The Sky Blue Boys recreate for audiences throughout the Northeast…a reminder of things past, and of things constant.
For bookings and information contact Dan Lindner at 802-223-6965 or banjodan@pshift.com