The Red and Black

Issue date: 7/3/09 Section: Variety

Media Credit: CHARLES-RYAN BARBER Andrew Heaton, pictured above, and The Packway Handle Band will share the stage with 13 other bands at the inaugural Red, White & Brewgrass Festival on Saturday. [Click to enlarge]

In the beginning, there was Athens, and Athens was the home of indie rock. Then a man named Bryndon said, "Let them be called The Packway Handle Band," and the bluegrass scene began to flourish in that indie rock town. And it was good.

"[It started] in a garden, with three bearded guys each wearing fig leaves and daring each other to drink the water - which was whiskey, it turned out," said Andrew Heaton, the band's fiddler.

Okay, so maybe those facts aren't straight from the book, but the first part of the story was true. "[The name] was literally blurted out by a guy with Tourette syndrome who knew the three bearded guys in the Garden," Heaton said. "Really. His name is Bryndon."

Since that fateful day in 2001, when the band name was quite literally declared, the members of The Packway Handle Band (PHB) have come a long way. They have released four albums and are working on a fifth. They have toured throughout the United States to the delight of bluegrass and non-bluegrass fans alike, and they have been finalists in the nationally acclaimed Telluride Bluegrass Competition three times.

If that wasn't enough, last Thursday the town where it all began took PHB's competition credentials up a notch when the band won the Flagpole Music Awards' Best Americana Band for the third time in row.



"It feels good to feel like people care about us," Heaton said of the band's recent win. "Because we feel that we still care a great deal about all of them. Thanks, by the way, to everyone who voted, especially for us."

Perhaps one of the reasons PHB repeatedly does so well at awards shows is the band's widespread appeal both to bluegrass traditionalists and to those who admittedly dislike the genre. These contrasting fan groups may stem from PHB's ability to pair a very traditional "gather 'round the mic" performance style with a fresh take on what bluegrass music should sound like.

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