The Ebony Hillbillies

A few days ago on the Shuttle subway platform at Grand Central I was introduced to The Ebony Hillbillies. With trains coming in and out constantly, the Shuttle area is a place that almost everyone moves through quickly, looking to make a connection on one side of town or the other. Apart from that negative for buskers, it's also a great space as far as subway platforms go.

Relative to most performers, The Ebony Hillbillies were stopping a few people in their tracks and getting lots of dollars on the fly. They are superb entertainers and musicians. More importantly, they make people stop and smile. They smile. They are a cut above most of the buskers, even really good ones. It's like that experience of going to a club to see a headliner and the opening act turns out to be really good. That's until the main act comes on and there is no comparison - it's an unmistakeably different level of talent.

I bought a CD from the fiddle case and Googled them when I got home. They've played at Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, and this past June played at the Spoleto Festival in Charleston. They also played at the Halifax County Fair near Danville in October, and here they are in the subway. CD's great, they are the real thing, what a treat.