Buddy*Carol*Jamie (Buddy Davis, Carol Mallett Rifkin and Jamie Soesbee) conjure up years of mountain bred musical experience combined with a modern sensibility and down home humor that leave an audience happy they came and asking for just “one more song”. Soaring three part harmonies, warm duets and comfortable songs make for a show that combines the best of vintage country, mountain songs, bluegrass favorites, familiar folk hits and even a few originals. Befriending the audience, they sing everything from the songs of Johnny Cash and June Carter to mountain Gospel. This award-winning versatile group has it covered; add the “Dean” of Western North Carolina fiddlers Arvil Freeman and banjo virtuoso George Buckner and you have one of the state’s best anything goes bluegrass bands too.
Buddy Davis: Born in Madison Co., NC, Buddy’s a 7th generation singer who shares ancestry with the Sodom Laurel Singers, first recorded by folklorist Cecil Sharp in the early part of the 20th century. The Grammy nominated (for his work with Doc Watson) multi-instrumentalist spent seven years touring with the Norfolk Southern Railroad band the Southern Lawmen and was a band member at Asheville’s legendary Bill Stanley’s Barbecue and Bluegrass. Davis played with Roy Clark on the CBS-TV series Hee-Haw, co-produced the Nashville Network TV series Fire on the Mountain and recorded with Sam Bush, Doc Watson and more. He is a charming host and his humor, smooth voice and tasteful guitar are an integral part of the show.
Carol Rifkin’s distinctive vocals and soaring harmonies shine in this trio. An award winning vocalist, guitar player and veteran of many bands, she has performed on TV, radio, recordings, at festivals and in the BBC documentary “Down Home, Appalachia to Nashville” (with fiddler Tommy Jarrell), the movie Songcatcher, the documentary Rank Strangers and more. A long time member of the internationally known Green Grass Cloggers, she appeared with them in several Emmy Award Winning network productions and recently at the Smithsonian, MerleFest and Philadelphia Folk Festivals. A journalist who writes about music for the Asheville Citizen Times, Acoustic Guitar Magazine, SingOut and more, she is an integral part of the mountain music scene.
Jamie Soesbee is a Buncombe County native who started out playing with pop bands and working as a session musician for studio work in the ‘70s and ‘80s and toured with Howard Hanger’s Jazz Fantasy and various dance bands. Distantly related to the legendary country singer Jimmie Rodgers who had roots in Asheville, he is completely at home on the upright bass and lends fine third part harmonies to many of the songs Buddy and Carol sing.
