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Arts & Entertainment

Bringing Bluegrass to Mineola

A local family band makes their way to the Mineola Library.

Bluegrass music may not be topping the charts for New York’s Top 40 hit music stations, but that doesn’t mean that there are not avid fans of the down-home country music on Long Island.

People of all ages gathered last Saturday night in the auditorium of the to listen to the country waling and catchy beats of local bluegrass musicians, the Homegrown String Band.

Homegrown String is a family bluegrass band, comprised of the four members of the Jackofsky family – father Mike, who also performs as lead vocals, plays the guitar, the clawhammer banjo and the harmonica; mother Georgianne, who masterfully plays little known instruments such as mountain dulcimer and the banjo-ukulele; Erica Jacofsky, who expertly plays the fiddle on a level comparable to a seasoned professional and youngest member Annalee who plays the mandolin and the jawharp.

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All three Jacofsky woman contribute background vocals and perform flatfoot dancing, a little known form of dance which combines African buck dancing (derived from African slaves) and Irish line dancing.

As Rick introduced his daughters, who seemed to quietly wander on  stage, he told the audience the dreadful tale behind bluegrass hit, “Two Sisters.”

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The somber story focuses on an older sister who murders her younger sister, whose dead body is turned into a fiddle by a local fiddler and results in the older sister eventually being found out and hanged.

Playing tunes not only by famous bands (such as “Sitting On Top of the World” written by 1930s Native American band “The Mississippi Sheiks”), the family also performed self-composed tunes, such as an ode to Johnny Cash called “Man Dressed in Black.”

Rick explained the history behind each song, educating the audience about the inspiration for each tune’s artist.

“Banjo players, for some reason like to sing about murder and moonshine,” he quipped as he explained tunes written by little-known artist B. F Shelton.

Each song transported local attendees to the deep South with down-home farm music.

Keeping true to tradition, the family played each song from memory, utilizing no sheet music.

As they bantered on stage with each other, it was evident to see that the love of, not only bluegrass string music but for one another helped push this family to create their homegrown group.

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