Rockin' Acoustic Circus

Throughout the 60 plus year history of bluegrass music, several young people started breaking musical molds at an early age –Ricky Skaggs, Sam Bush, and Chris Thile to name just a few. It appears the Rockin’ Acoustic Circus is one such group pushing these musical boundaries in their youth. Turning heads with an overflowing talent pool and musicianship beyond their years, this six-piece ensemble comprised of five teens and one musical veteran are wowing crowds and critics alike. Quickly morphing from a well-received regional favorite into a group with nationally recognized aspirations, they’ve already blown away folks at award winning music festivals and shared the stage with well-known artists like Sam Bush, John Cowan, Darol Anger and Byron Berline. Next on the horizon appears to be one small step for bluegrass, but one giant leap for RAC.
“This band is open to all styles of music and they are hardworking,” says veteran musician, Rick Morton, guitarist and leader of the Rockin’ Acoustic Circus. Morton once made a career out of fighting four-alarm fires, but now, as “ringmaster” of RAC, is fanning the flames of one of Oklahoma’s hottest up-and-coming bands. “We really don’t talk much about where it all might lead. If we play on a level that’s consistent, exciting and fun, then where we play and when we play and how far we’ll go will take care of itself.”
Morton’s an outstanding instrumentalist - playing fiddle, guitar and mandolin, has already had quite a musical career. He won a national talent contest with Ronnie Dunn just before Dunn hit the big time with partner Kix Brooks. He’s also worked with such artists as Ricky Skaggs, George Strait, and Kathy Mattea. In 1994, he recorded and played fiddle with The Tractors on their debut album, which was Grammy-nominated and sold more than three million copies.
The rest of this young band members may not have had the years of experience as Morton, but all have spent a good portion of their young lives playing music. Defining the groove with his “Dawg-inspired” mandolin chops, Sterling Abernathy, is an accomplished player with a couple of contest championships under his belt and Iron Chef of the eight-string. He makes older mandolin players so jealous their F-styles turn green. Eric Dysart’s impressive list of fiddling achievements includes being a finalist in the Nashville-based Grand Masters Fiddle Championship. His fiddle playing is virtuosic with his left hand as smooth and unyielding as his bow hand. Voted “best hair in the band,” and playing banjo for only a few years, Carson Clemishire has licks to spare and banjo rolls to be reckoned with, plus, he’s already earned a first place contest finish. Emma Hardin, “bluegrass cellist” for RAC is not only an accomplished young classical cellist, but is breaking ground by innovatively chartering a journey into new musical territory with the “bluegrass cello.” Watching Emma’s brother, Zac Hardin (also classically trained) play bass, is like watching a man wrestle a bear, but kidding aside, that bear is not going to win. Young Zac can really plunk the stain off that bull-fiddle and rounds out the group as if the bases were loaded and Hank Aaron was up to bat.
The Circus caught the attention of Oklahoma bluegrass legend, Bryon Berline, a three-time national fiddle champion and director of the Oklahoma International Bluegrass Festival. Berline says the thing that impresses him the most about RAC is they strive for originality, bringing their own distinctive style to bluegrass standards. “They step out and do traditional music their own way,” he says. “They’re not copycats and you see copycats all the time in bluegrass. They bring their own style and feel to the music.”
Now, these powerhouse teens – along with their musical mentor – have merged into one impressive band. As they continue putting a unique mark on their music and writing more originals to add to their already impressive repertoire, listening to their acoustical fused music influenced by bluegrass, jazz, classical, swing, blues and even some rock-n-roll, make them an incredible listening experience.

Commentary:
John Wooley, author of “From the Blue Devils to Red Dirt: The Colors of Oklahoma Music,”
Bob Xang, contributing writer for “The Current” magazine and Scott Wigton, writer for “Oklahoma Today.”