Tall, Dark, and Handsome

Appalachia in the Bluegrass Concert Series, sponsored by The John Jacob Niles Center for American Music and the UK College of Fine Arts

This Lexington trio, formed in 1993 as Tall Dark and Handsome (TDH), is a rare blend of jazz and regional music. The original songwriting and country singing of Bev Futrell, of the legendary Reel World String Band, is the centerpiece. Other members include champion fiddler Karen Jones and jazz mandolinist George Neel. In June 2013, the band, then as the quartet TDH4 with the late Ricky Baldwin on bass, released “Dust Devils On Our Heels”.  Bev Futrell's poetic songs are about places and characters in Kentucky (L.B. and the Owl) and in her native state of Texas (Chinaberry and Queen of the Gold Star). The song Carcassonne celebrates a little-known square dance hall on top of a mountain in Letcher County, Ky. TDH is equally at home with jazz and blues standards and hot fiddling. A subsequent recording, “Rock Me Away”, 2016, adds to the vibrant Americana songwriting legacy of Bev Futrell, and vividly reflects the artistic strength of this trio. The recording is executed with precision, craft and wisdom.