Sammy Shelor learned to play banjo on a toy.
“My two grandfathers were big music fans, so I think it was decided that I was going to be a banjo player even before I was born,” Shelor laughed. “When I was five, my one grandfather built me a toy banjo, and my other grandfather said that if I learned two tunes, he would buy me a real one.”
But it didn?t end there. Shelor is now the leader of the Lonesome River Band, one of the most popular national bluegrass acts in the country. Dobro player Matt Leadbetter, guitarist Brandon Rickman, mandolin player Andy Ball and bassist Mike Anglin round out the rest of LRB.
The band is celebrating their 25th anniversary this year, but Shelor is the only original member. “I?ve been here since 1990, and I?ve realized that there have been 19 different people on the band since I?ve been here,” he said. “I stay because I love the music and I enjoy being on the road, it?s the only life I know.”
Shelor has been voted Banjo Player of the Year four times by the International Bluegrass Music Association, which may relate to why he?s stayed with a band that?s been through so many changes. “I?ve always had the attitude that if something is supposed to work out, it will,” he said. “In the music business, personnel changes are just a way of life.”
IF YOU GO
Lonesome River Band
WHERE: Gordon Center for Performing Arts, 3506 Gwynnbrook Ave., Owings Mills
WHEN: 8 p.m. Saturday
TICKETS: $18 to $21
