PLOW BOY BEND Bluegrass Band. (home) click here for pictures

Plow Boy Bend? I hear you think. What on earth...? Don't you know how to spell bluegrass band?

Nope. Plow Boy Bend is the bend in the Missouri River between Coopers Landing and Lupus, and Coopers Landing is a wonderful place for musicians to play. The "stage" (front porch) is but a few yards from the river flowing by. The sunsets are exquisite, night after night.

Pippa began playing and singing her songs there in 2005, and along came Mike Cooper's brother-in-law, Dave Dearnley, with a very nice guitar and some mighty fine flat-picking, so he joined in, and then there were two. And lots of audience appreciation, well trained in the giving of tips.

Then sometimes we played also with Jesse James and Friends, on a Saturday afternoon, along with Jesse James from Lupus, and Patty Nash on dobro, and Jeff Wheeler on djembe (African talking drum). And a very good time was had by all.

Dave Dearnley won the First Annual Bass Pro Shop Catfish Tournament Fishing Song competition, with his original song "Flying Carp" -- a regular feature of Plow Boy Bend performances. Catch the movie of his winning performance on CAT3 TV. (The movie is sponsored by MoRivCC, you can go to Coopers Landing web site for more info on MoRivCC.)

Then, one time Pippa was in casual conversation with Dirk Burhans (very fine slide guitar and dobro picker who plays with the Bait Shop Boys), and HE says, "There's a mandolin picker just come into town and he's looking for folks to play with." And Pippa asks, "Is he any good?" and Dirk says, "Oh yes!"

On October 29, 2005, we had a gig at Coopers for one hundred fifty cyclists in Halloween costumes. They wanted bluegrass music, and we raised the best bluegrass outfit we could muster (Pippa, Dave, Patty on dobro, Jeff on djembe, and Ken Roberts on bass), and along comes the mandolin picker to introduce himself, Bill Jensen, and we get to picking, and he is GOOD bluegrass picker! Oh yes! So now we are three full-time bluegrassers, one djembe player to keep us on the beat, and Patty on dobro when she is in town.

So Cooper then thought it would be good for business if we hosted a Saturday afternoon jam session, during the slow months of the winter, and there we were jamming away and along comes Fred Vultee with a banjo. He's played with Crooked Jack, among other bands, and he REALLY wants to get back into serious bluegrass tunes. And Pippa says, "You WANT to play bluegrass? on the banjo? That is music to my ears! oh yes!" and he is GOOD banjo picker.

Then along comes SIR Mark Atkins Lieberman, excellent wonderful all-round amazing PROFESSIONAL musician of ultimate quality, who plays guitar, mandolin, electric bass (check out the band Planet Jazz) and he is wanting to brush up his chops on the upright bass. Oh lordie, lordie, we got us all the necessary bluegrass instruments for getting us a REAL bluegrass sound.

Check out Coopers Landing web page for news of our gigs down there (at present we're playing every Saturday afternoon at the acoustic jam session, that's us) and we'll be getting bookings also at the Cherry Street Artisan sometime soon. Check Pippa's gig calendar.

So that's PLOW BOY BEND BLUEGRASS BAND. Stay tuned for more info on this wild, raucous, laughing, most entertaining bluegrass band, playing polka on the djembe, old favorite bluegrass standards, and some exciting new and original tunes.