The Half Bad Bluegrass Band

The Band formed in late 2005, out of a weekly jam session around the old coal stove in the loft of the Lively's barn. "We knew right away that we wanted to stay with the style of old school, driving bluegrass, such as Bill Monroe, The Stanley Brothers, Jimmy Martin and regional favorite Richard Hefner and The Black Mountain Bluegrass Boys.

Since our formation, we have been featured at many state and regional venues, including the inaugural Pickin’ in the Panhandle, The W.V. State Bluegrass & Barbeque Festival, which we have been invited back to for 2011. We have also played the infamous Wheeling Jamboree, live recordings at The Bluegrass Preservation Society in Flatwoods, W.V. several local whitewater rafting outfitters in the Fayetteville, W.V. area, the Taste of our Town event and Carnegie Hall in downtown Lewisburg, W.V., The Virginia Bluegrass and Microbrew festival in Appomattox, Va., just to name a few. The band has also played several performances along The Crooked Road, Virginia’s Heritage Music Trail, which has included a few scheduled stops at the world famous Floyd Country Store in Floyd, Va. With that, we have shared the bill with many great names in bluegrass; such as Blue Highway, Cadillac Sky, The Lost & Found, Carrie Hassler & Hard Rain, The Lonesome River Band and Everett Lilly from The Lilly Brothers of early bluegrass fame, just to name a few.

Our first few shows were played with only four members (John Lively and former members Howard Estep on mandolin, Glen Reed on fiddle and Bert Baker on dog house bass) with Howard and Glen trading off guitar duty. Brian Bell joined the band in March of 2006 and Heather Lively started singing "full-time" in 2007 and really made the group whole. In the summer of 2009, Mike Estep, joined us full-time as the dog house bass player for the departing Bert Baker. Then, in the summer of 2010, Wesley O'Dell joined us on the mandolin full-time in place of Howard Estep, thus creating the current line-up of The Half Bad Bluegrass Band.

Our live show is best described as a high energy, foot stomping, old school bluegrass good time.