By Brittney McKenna, bmckenna@timesfreepress.com

Combining traditional bluegrass and R&B-influenced gospel kind of seems like an unorthodox combination for anyone who hasn't heard you before. How did the two bands get together originally?

Well originally we met back at Delfest. We were invited to come there and then from there we hooked up with Ronnie McCoury, Del's oldest son. He was feeling good vibes about us and he jumped onstage with us and (the performance) went so great that Del asked us to stay and do a late jam with them. So we stayed after that and ever since that last year it has been a real good combination with us and them so that is kind of how we got started and how we met up.

Did you have to change anything performance-wise to get the sound right, or was it more of an immediate chemistry?

Yeah, it was kind of an immediate collaboration. With bluegrass, there are a lot of similarities with the picking. We're more soul, gospel-bluesy where they're more like the bluegrass-country type. But it just really worked real good and is just a great blend. We both have the same kind of awe and respect for music so that's why it's been working real good for us.

Had you listened to much bluegrass before playing with the McCoury's?

We had played with a lot of bluegrass (bands) because we kind of started in the folk arena, so we played with a lot of folky, bluegrass people when we first started. But I mean we never just sat down with it. Doing what we're doing now is the first kind of collaboration with this type of music.

Are there any other artists that you would like to collaborate with one day?

Oh man, for sure. We actually have been doing shows with Oteil Burbridge, the bass player from the Allman Brothers. Also just with the Allman Brothers, we would like to do some more stuff with them. You know, we also want to get into some more of the bigger country acts. Our music touches a lot of people.

I've read that sacred steel music actually originated in your home church. Could you tell me a little about its background?

Yeah, sacred steel music originated from the church we actually came from. There are a lot of churches all over (that use it), but the House of God, our church, is actually where it came from. It's been in our church since about the 1930s when a folklorist guy named Robert Stone was in a music store and this guy was telling him “Hey, you've got to come check out these brothers playing the pedal steel.” He checked it out and he came to one of our church assemblies and from there that was when we started playing sacred steel. Sacred comes from within the church, and steel because it's a steel guitar. So that's kind of how we got that.

How did growing up in that environment shape you musically?

It really shaped us good, you know, we were from a strict background. My father was a Pentecostal minister, so there are a lot of things you aren't supposed to do, not supposed to eat, that whole thing. It really shaped us up real good as far as having a love and respect for all types of music.

What made you decide that it was time to take your music out of the church and out into the rest of the world?

Back in 2000 my father and my brother Glen died and it was just hard for us. So I got with my nephews and my brothers and we decided it was time to take it out of the four walls, and so that's kind of what we've been doing ever since.

You had your last studio album out in 2005, right?

Yeah, and we've had a couple more live albums out.

Are you going back into the studio any time soon?

Yeah we're actually in the studio now, working on some things. Hopefully by the fall we may have something out with the Travelin' McCoury's because we are actually in the studio rehearsing stuff now with them.

You guys kind of take a different approach to gospel music by writing a majority of your own material. What made you decide to do that instead of focusing on traditional covers?

I think it is what it is because what we do is more or less inspirational. That is kind of the core. We just want to continue to try to spread our music to the world and we just kind of hope we can touch one person and then our job is done. That is kind of a mantra that we have.