Can they Cut the ’Grass?



Pinetop derby: Jennie and Jim.

Bluegrass kids Jim and Jennie and the Pinetops are winning over young ears and hope to impress the old guard.

by Mary Armstrong

Say "Jim and Jennie" to folks who have known bluegrass for a while, and they are apt to correct you. "You mean Jim and Jesse, right?" — referring to the famed leaders of the Virginia Boys, long at the forefront of the traditional bluegrass scene.

But Jim and Jennie recently launched their new CD, Little Birdie (Phovsho/ Overcoat), at the North Star Bar and if you’d have said "Jim and Jesse" to the majority of the 100-plus folks in attendance, you’d also have been politely corrected. Yet, both bands have the hardcore bluegrass sound and each has its share of enthusiastic supporters. Jim Krewson — guitarist, songwriter and forceful tenor lead singer — and his musical partner Jennie Benford — mandolinist, songwriter and big-voiced singer in the old-time open-throated country style — took a few minutes to discuss the phenomenon of a strictly traditional bluegrass band working rock bars and driving the crowds crazy.

Jim, 33, is a Bucks County native. As a kid he heard his father sing in barbershop quartets and there were also a few Flatt and Scruggs records in the family collection. Jim’s earliest professional music gigs were in hardcore punk bands, but he still found something compelling in bluegrass: "the energy and honesty and sincerity were the same." He began the transition to bluegrass by working in what he describes as a "jokey" band, the Slobber Mountain Boys. By the late ’80s Jim says he was completely converted to bluegrass.

Living and working in New York City, he was introduced to Jennie Benford, 29, Vermont-raised and recently of Oberlin. Jim recalls she was about to leave the city, for lack of folks to pick with. That may seem like a radical move to those who haven’t led Jennie’s life. Her father (not the famed Mac Benford) played banjo in a local bluegrass band, and according to her, "I never heard anything but bluegrass until I was 10!" Obviously it agreed with her. Her voice is big and joyful, calling to mind Hazel Dickens, Alice Gerrard, Wilma Lee Cooper or any of the Lewis Family matriarchs. None of the soft, shy Alison Krauss-style shivering delivery in Jennie’s repertoire.

They moved to the area when an uncle of Jim’s passed away; they now live in his home for just a little bit less than they were paying in New York.

The rest of the band are known as the Pinetops. Yes, they were once known as the Pine Barons, but no, the rumors of threatened lawsuits are not true. Jennie explains that they had even played over at the Albert Hall [the center for traditional music in Jersey] where Jim Murphy of Jim Murphy and the Pine Barons, the nicest man in the world, heard them. He wrote them, pointing out he’d copyrighted that name some 30 years prior. No hard feelings, she assures us. Today’s Pinetops include Brendan Skwire on bass and Brad Hutchinson on banjo. Hutchinson came to Philly to study architecture at Penn, and he swears he’ll get back to it someday — once the pickings get slim.

So here we have a very traditional four piece bluegrass band, playing in all these clubs that ordinarily book rock bands. Jim’s got the right connections from his early punk years, but connections don’t convince listeners. The crowds who show up for Jim and Jennie shows clearly love them. A few give up those embarrassingly inappropriate yeehaws, but most are just soaking up the energy that defines hard-driving bluegrass.

Meanwhile, the Pinetops are working on branching out. By the time you read this, they will be in Kentucky, schmoozing at the International Bluegrass Music Association. The IBMA is the world’s biggest trade show and convention for those who play bluegrass or related old-time and acoustic country music. Jim and Jennie both want to see this traditional band succeed on its natural home ground, the bluegrass festival circuit. So far, their performing has been in the non-traditional venues that bluegrass bands are usually eager to break into. They’re hoping for an exchange of information to help both sides.

In contrast to the bulk of the bands at IBMA, The Pinetops shun flashy picking. They have decided to keep their focus on the vocal edge, with Jennie’s distinctive leads on a great number of the songs and Jim’s echoes of the late Joe Val soaring for high notes. Pair that with contemporary themes treated bluegrass style like Jim’s "This One’s on Me," and the Pinetops have something new for even the oldest bluegrass ears.

Jim and Jennie and the Pinetops will perform on Nov. 2 at the Tin Angel, 20 S. Second St., 215-928-0978., and Nov. 17 at Bennie’s, 1508 South St.