THE DICK SMITH-MIKE O`REILLY BAND

A review of the bands last visit to the HOEBV 20.2.04 by Dr Martin Hoskins 

Another blistering evening at HOEBV with the Dick Smith and Mike O’Reilly band. From the first note this was going to be a night to remember. This band didn’t need to warm up. Ray Legere’s first mandolin solo would have startled Rip van Winkle. The band was firing on all cylinders. The music was fast and furious but never lost clarity or rhythm. Dick Smith’s banjo was a joy, not only in the solos but also in the musical variety of his support for the others.  How do these great bands sound like a complete orchestra? The harmony vocals were spot on and sustained the variety of intonation which keeps you listening, ‘though you don’t know why.  Bluegrass standards like ‘Riding On That Midnight Train’ and ‘Another Night’ were mixed with instrumentals like ‘Dear Old Dixie’ and Ernest Sykes’ solo ‘I Love You a Thousand Ways’. The first session ended with a tornado version of ‘Ragtime Annie’. 

The second session started. Not like the first but with Mike O’Reilly as the Reverend Cashflow obeying a command to save the sinners of Kenilworth with a hilarious combination of music and wit. Ray Legere then treated us to some great Breton fiddling and a marvelous duet with Dick Smith. Dan was doing a great job on the sound until a mike died. A miraculous resurrection from the Rev Cashflow and the Archangel Ron got it plugged in and we were off again with Ernest Sykes wonderfully capturing the idiom of country music from another era with ‘Another Place, Another Time’.
We had the full range of bluegrass songs. Murder with ‘Henry Walker’, a miner’s song with ‘Blow Wind Blow’, a prison song with the Mac Wiseman classic ‘Shackles and Chains’. Even a few songs with that word ‘love’ crept in; these are often apparently requested in the Honky Tonks after a few beers. We were even shown a new dance learned from a man in Scotland out walking his dog. Details and the name escape me. The evening ended with some crystal clear banjo harmonics on the Earl Scruggs classic ‘Bugle Call Rag’.
Souls may not have been saved but we all went away enriched. This was one of the great nights among many.

THE DICK SMITH - MIKE O'REILLY BAND  

Even though the members of the band come from diverse musical backgrounds they have found common ground with their love of traditional music, especially bluegrass. Two members of the group come from the American south and two from Canada. The merging of the influences from these areas has produced a unique sound and style! Above all the band believes in entertaining an audience.

DICK SMITH is well known in bluegrass circles as one of the finest musicians in the business! He has been a member of many top bands including: “The Country Gentlemen”, “The Del McCoury Band, and many others. He is an accomplished mandolin player, but it is his hard driving banjo that is justly famous. He has a deep understanding of harmony singing, and sings baritone in the band. Dick hails from Alexandria Virginia. 

RAY LEGERE comes from the Canadian Maritimes, a place that has traditionally been an inexhaustible fountain of old time music. He was reared on old-time fiddle tunes and styles of Anglo Celtic music that is ingrained in the region. Like many in the area, he was also influenced by clear channel radio stations from the south that played hillbilly music, and by the bands that toured through the area. It is generally recognized that he is a master of the fiddle, mandolin and guitar.

MIKE O’REILLY Mike comes from the Ontario/Quebec border region of Canada and grew up listening to WWVA Wheeling West Virginia and the shanty songs of the area. His dad influenced him by singing all the old Jimmy Rogers and Hank Snow songs from years ago. Mike has won many awards in Canada and provides the band with a wealth of original material. His songs have been recorded by Del McCoury, Charlie Waller, The Lost and Found, Pete Goble etc. Mike plays guitar in the band.
EARNEST SYKES is a great bassist, a well-seasoned musician, known for his work with some of the major talents inside and out of Bluegrass music.

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