The Carpenter Ants, West Virginia’s premier rhythm and blues band, are coming back to Buddy Lou’s in Hancock, Maryland on Friday August 19 between 6 pm and 9 pm.
They will be joined by Larry Groce, host of West Virginia Public Radio’s Mountain Stage.
The band’s trademark is country soul, typified by the band’s moving cover of Mahalia Jackson’s How I Got Over. (You’re going to have to go to Buddy Lou’s to hear it, can’t find it on the Internet.)
In 2008, The Ants performed on the NPR show Whada Ya Know? They performed twice on Mountain Stage and once on the stage of the Hancock Performing Arts Center.
The Ants opened shows for the Blind Boys of Alabama, Southern Culture on the Skids, the Holmes Brothers, the Dirty Dozen Brass Band, Delbert McClinton, the Roches, and the Fabulous Thunderbirds.
Lipton calls the Ant’s music “chicken-fried gospel soul” with lots of feel-good harmonies and a solid groove.