Facebook Tracking Pixel
Blue Ridge National Heritage Area Mobile Logo
Greasy Beans
In Memoriam

The Greasy Beans

Buncombe County

Mandolinist and Hendersonville native Charley Brophey and guitarist Josh Haddix of Statesville played together for more than a dozen years, having first met as students at Warren-Wilson College in Swannanoa. As the Greasy Beans, joined by various combinations of Keith Lowe, Danny Barnes, Cailen Campbell, John Matteson, David Brown, and Brad Hutchison, they recorded two albums—Busted and Real Live Music—and kept busy touring in the 2000s. They shared stages with Doc Watson, Tony Rice, John Hartford, and Tim O’Brien, and received strong reviews in Acoustic Guitar, Bluegrass Unlimited, and The New York Times.

The Greasy Beans were notable among young bluegrass bands for their large repertoire of original songs which, though new, were informed and inspired by the aesthetics of the first generation of bluegrass greats—particularly the Bluegrass Boys and Flatt and Scruggs—as well as by Appalachian oldtime music. Busted was recorded without overdubbing, so as to preserve traditional, natural sound of live bluegrass.

Singing “Every Last Angel Cried,” the Greasy Beans were featured on the anniversary album of performances at the Mountain Dance and Folk Festival. In 2006, they spent the first few weeks of the festival season touring the Netherlands, and their schedule later in the summer brought them home for performances in western North Carolina.

The Greasy Beans reunited for a performance in Asheville at the Grey Eagle in August, 2013.

Josh Haddix passed away on February 22, 2019 at the age of 45.

 

Greasy Beans
Greasy Beans
This page honors the life and legacy of a directory artist who has since passed away.