Seabie Ewer with a plaque he received when he was named to the Atlanta Country Music Hall of Fame .
Ewer said the band appeals to every age group . “ We have several teenage followers around Moultrie who saw us at church ,” he said . “ It ’ s encouraging to see young people who grasp acoustic music and like it and hopefully will listen to more .”
Bluegrass is a unique musical style , Ewer said , because of the technical difficulty required by the precision and speed of the music . “ It ’ s a lot more difficult to play than people who have never tried to play it might think ,” he said .
Its simplicity and stripped-down sound adds to that difficulty . “ You ’ re just standing with an acoustic instrument in front of a microphone with no reverb , distoration , or amplifier , just you and the instrument ,” said Ewer . “ You feel kind of naked with an acoustic instrument and microphone when you don ’ t have all of the electronics to hide behind .”
Ewer ’ s life has been soaked in music . He said he started singing at church when he was six or seven years old . He remembers his church ’ s song leader taking him to perform gospel music at the company Christmas parties of Penny ’ s and Sears . He didn ’ t begin to play guitar until he was a high schooler in Calvary Baptist Church ’ s youth group . His first guitar was a $ 12 model from Woolsworth . The next year , he bought his first electric .
Ewer said he played in a few bands in high school , noting performances at the youth center after football games where they played songs from bands like The Bee Gees and Grand Funk Railroad . “ We just played whatever was on the radio at the time , whatever was popular in the early ’ 70s ,” Ewer said .
His ear was first attracted to bluegrass while in high school when he heard the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band ’ s 1972 album “ Will the Circle Be Unbroken ,” which featured bluegrass luminaries like Doc Watson , Earl Scruggs , Norman Blake , Jimmy Martin , and Vassar Clements .
Ewer graduated from Moultrie High School in 1974 and headed to Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College , where he met the members of the ABAC bluegrass band , who allowed him to sit in with them .
“ They were from North Carolina and were real bluegrass players ,” said Ewer . “ In North Carolina you couldn ’ t throw a rock and not hit a really good banjo player .”
He continued to play mostly cover music in what he described as “ dance bands ,” performing at events like the Miller Brewing Company ’ s family picnic and the Sunbelt Ag Expo . He even opened for The Commodores when they came to Albany . “ It was the first time we ever had someone tote our equipment for us ,” Ewer said with a laugh .
He has been playing with different bands and as a session musician ever since . One highlight came when he was invited to play with Bobby Hicks , the longtime fiddle player for Ricky Skaggs and a legend in his own right , when Hicks came to play a show in the area and needed some musicians to fill out the band for the evening .
“ They called and asked me to play the bass , and I said , ‘ No , do you know who he is ? He ’ s played Carnegie Hall and the Grand Ole Opry ,’” Ewer overcame his initial hesitancy and met with Hicks to rehearse . “ He liked what I did and wanted me to come back , but the last thing I wanted to be the one who messed up the show .”
MAY 2023 MoultrieScene 27