Dr. Elmo & Wild Blue
Gig Seeker Pro

Dr. Elmo & Wild Blue

Novato, California, United States | INDIE | AFTRA

Novato, California, United States | INDIE | AFTRA
Band Folk Bluegrass

Calendar

This band has not uploaded any videos
This band has not uploaded any videos

Music

Press


"The Bluegrass Breakdown"

Dr. Elmo & Wild Blue proudly calls itself “Marin County’s premier bluegrass band,” and this collection of 20 songs certainly shows they are worthy of the title. The band members are singers Dr. Elmo on banjo, John Pierson on guitar, Larry Carlin on bass and Dana Rath on mandolin and Kenny Blacklock on fiddle. With three lead vocalists who also blend together in beautifully mixed three-part harmonies, their vocal palette is varied and exciting. Instrumentally, the guitar and banjo provide most of the melodic lead breaks and the band’s energy and love of the music flows out to the listener.
The country, folk and popular songs on the album have been given a “wild-blue” treatment and the resulting songs are familiar favorites with a bluegrass flavor. The
Beatles’ “I’ve Just Seen A Face” has a banjo and guitar backdrop. The band revives “Fox on the Run” complete with carefully blended vocal harmonies. If you’re an Oklahoma native, you’ll love the gentle tribute to your favorite state, “My Oklahoma,” with its lone prairie harmonies and a gentle guitar accompaniment.
An album standout is the Dillards’ “There Is A Time” with a strong flatpicked guitar blended with banjo and a wistful vocal blend that combines hope and assurance. Folk fans will enjoy “Last Thing on My Mind” and “City of New Orleans.” Of course, any Dr. Elmo show will have a few chuckles and the “Wild Dogs of Kentucky” has a few snarls and growls from the hounds that howl at the moon and chase the coons all night long.
You won’t need to “wait for the light to shine,” or “walk the way the wind blows” to find something find something to enjoy on this album!

- California Bluegrass Associaiton, Brenda Hough, October 2009


"Paul Liberatore"

It's getting to be the time of year when the holiday air is filled with the strains of Dr. Elmo's hearty perennial, “Grandma Got Run Over By a Reindeer.”
That little chestnut has sold more than 10 million copies since he recorded it in 1979, and it keeps Dr. Elmo, aka Novato's Elmo Shropshire, in demand for more personal appearances than the fat man himself.
But Shropshire doesn't just pop out from under the Christmas tree every holiday season, arriving like “Grandma's Killer Fruitcake,” another of his seasonal smilers. He's a legitimate Bay Area bluegrass musician, playing banjo, singing in a high Kentucky wail and fronting his band, Wild Blue, featuring guitarist/singer John Pierson, bassist Larry Carlin and, on this CD, mandolinist Dana Rath (of the Modern Mandolin Quartet) and Berklee School of Music alum Kenny Blacklock on fiddle.
Shropshire gives his fans their money's worth with 20 bluegrass, country and pop songs. He can't resist including a couple of novelty tunes, the dark humor of “Dr. Kevorkian” and “Wild Dogs of Kentucky,” complete with snoring, snarling and you get the idea.
Band members trade lead vocals and join in three-part harmony on tunes like Don Reno's “He's Coming Back to Earth Again” and Tim O'Brien's fine “Walk the Way the Wind Blows.” Carlin's keening tenor gives the harmony an authentic bluegrass sheen.
Pierson's lead guitar solos stop the show on several tunes, and Shropshire's banjo playing gives Steve Martin a run for his money.
Dr. Elmo is always going to be known for the “Grandma” song, but “Wild Blue Grass” shows that Elmo Shropshire is more than a one-hit wonder.
Buy It: “Wild Blue Grass,” Dr. Elmo & Wild Blue, Laughing Stock Records, $12, www.dr.elmo.com or carltone.com.
— Paul Liberatore
- Marin Independent Journal


Discography

Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer, Dr. Elmo (SonyBMG) Oct., 2005

Dr. Elmo sings the Boo's, (SonyBMG) Oct., 2007

Dr. Elmo & Wild Blue Grass, Sept. 2009

Dr. Elmo's Bluegrass Christmas, (Time Life/Universal) Sept. 2010,

Songs available on Itunes,

Photos

Bio

Wild Blue is Marin County’s premiere Bluegrass band. Their dynamic bluegrass and folk music appeals to a wide range of ages and tastes. A Wild Blue performance is both music AND a show. Comprised of singers Dr. Elmo on banjo, John Pierson on guitar and Larry Carlin on bass, the band’s forte is exceptional three-part harmony and virtuoso instrumentation. Wild Blue has been performing at fairs, festivals and clubs all over Northern California for the past 18 years. Although Dr. Elmo is famous for his multi-platinum (11 million copies) hit "Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer," if it's Bluegrass you want, this band kicks like a mule!