Published Thursday, June 29, 2017 at 11:23 am

Cane Mill Road’s new album Five Speed debuted in the Top 10 at #9 on the Billboard Bluegrass Album Chart on Tuesday. Cane Mill Road is an IBMA (International Bluegrass Music Association) Showcase Band for 2017. IBMA selected Cane Mill Road from hundreds of applicants as one of 30 bands to showcase during its annual conference/festival as part of the Bluegrass Ramble.

DJs can download Cane Mill Road’s album Five Speed on AirPlay Direct (www.AirPlayDirect.com/canemillroad or request a physical copy, [email protected]) and the album is available to the public on iTunes, Amazon, CD Baby, and other online sources.

Growing up literally just down the road from Doc Watson, Cane Mill Road’s band members are proud to continue the tradition of keeping mountain music alive. Cane Mill Road rocks the traditional bluegrass they grew up on, yet boldly tackles bluegrass interpretations of the Beatles, Bob Dylan, and more. Honoring the past, but looking to the future, the band blends music that keeps bluegrass at the core, but like Doc, reaches towards other eclectic influences and styles.

Two-time GRAMMY winner Cathy Fink produced the album along with co-producer Tom Mindte of Patuxent Music who also engineered and mixed the album at Patuxent Studios in Rockville, MD. Mike Monseur at BIAS Studios in Springfield, VA mastered the album.

The band is touring in support of the album heading next week to New York for two shows and to the Remington Ryde Bluegrass Festival in Pennsylvania, and having just finished touring the Carolinas and Alabama.

The band just celebrated its three-year anniversary and over that time have performed on twice on NPR/PBS, toured Argentina, and performed at MerleFest, Bristol Rhythm &

Roots Reunion, Bluegrass on the Plains, Carolina in the Fall, and the Doc Watson MusicFest in Sugar Grove, just to name a few of more than 100 shows on their past schedule.

The band is led by 14-year-old Liam Purcell from Deep Gap, NC on mandolin, fiddle, and vocals. Liam grew up one mile from Doc Watson and learned to play through the Junior Appalachian Musicians program. He’s a perennial ribbon winner in festivals and fronted a 500-piece orchestra on mandolin during the band’s trip to Argentina.

You might recognize the band’s banjo player, 17-year-old Trajan Wellington of Jefferson, NC, from the 2017 Deering Banjos catalog where he was featured on a two-page spread with his Deering Deluxe model banjo.

The band is proud to be endorsing artists for Deering Banjos, and the band features two Deering Brian Friesen Award winners, Liam in 2014 and Trajan in 2016. The band also is endorsed by GHS Strings, Sorensen Mandolins & Guitars, Kogut Violins, Shubb Capos, and MiniFlex.

Playing bass is 19-year-old Eliot Smith from Boone, NC, who is studying to be a luthier and has built a guitar, five fiddles, and is working on his first bass. Nineteen-year-old Casey Lewis from Rocky Gap, VA is the newest addition to the band on guitar and vocals. While Casey is not on Five Speed, the band is gearing up to record its next album featuring several original songs by Lewis.

The band represented the United States of America in May of 2015 at the International Music Festival, Concierto En Iguazu where they were a featured band and the first in the festival’s 6-year history to play bluegrass.

You’ve heard the band twice on National Public Radio’s Woodsongs Old-time Radio Hour and at major bluegrass festivals. The band regularly plays venues in the Carolinas, Alabama, New York, Pennsylvania, Virginia, Tennessee and Kentucky.

AirPlay Direct: www.AirPlayDirect.com/canemillroad

Web: www.canemillroad.com

Facebook: www.facebook.com/canemillroad

YouTube: www.youtube.com/canemillroad

Instagram: canemillroad

Hi-res photos: www.dropbox.com/sh/48x4qlizgwscbae/AAASJ_FwVDKrgYtI_zYkApIJa?dl=0