Cia cherryholmes biography

The band was made up of six members of the Cherryholmes family: father Jere (Pop), mother Sandy Lee, daughters Cia Leigh, and Molly Kate, and sons B.J. and Skip.
She started on guitar in 1999 at age 15.
Formed in 2001, bluegrass sextet Cherryholmes spans two generations of the Nashville-via-Arizona-based family of the same name, including father Jere (bass/.

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I thought I was up to speed when it came to bluegrass, newgrass, jamgrass and all the other grasses that have sprung up in Americana music in recent years. So how come I’d never heard of Cherryholmes, a family bluegrass band, until I saw that they were coming to perform in the 2,000-seat Marin Veterans Auditorium next week?

It’s probably because, in an extraordinarily short time, they have miraculously materialized on the acoustic music scene as if by magic.

In 2005, two scant years after they began touring, they were the International Bluegrass Music Association Entertainers of the Year. All three of their albums, the newest being “Cherryholmes III: Don’t Believe,” have been nominated for Grammys.

I have to admit that there is something mystical about the Cherryholmes story.

It began in grief and sorrow a decade ago with the death of their oldest daughter, Shelly, 20, from complications from a stroke.

Inspired by informal jams they saw at a bluegrass festival they attended to lift their spirits, the family began playing together at home, ju

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Cherryholmes

American bluegrass band

Cherryholmes
The Cherryholmes Family
Origin	Los Angeles, California
Genres	Bluegrass
Years active	1999 (1999)–2011 (2011)
Labels	Skaggs Family Records
Past members	Jere Cherryholmes (Pop), Sandy Lee Cherryholmes, Cia Leigh Cherryholmes, Molly Kate Cherryholmes, B.J. Cherryholmes, Skip Cherryholmes
Website	www.cherryholmes.com

Cherryholmes was an American Bluegrass band from Los Angeles, California. The band was made up of six members of the Cherryholmes family: father Jere (Pop), mother Sandy Lee, daughters Cia Leigh, and Molly Kate, and sons B.J. and Skip.

History

In April 1999, Jere and Sandy Lee took the family to a local bluegrass festival, and the family decided to play as a group. Jere already played electric bass, acoustic guitar and the upright bass, and Sandy played guitar, fiddle, mandolin, and piano. Cia began learning guitar. B.J. and Molly began learning the fiddle. Skip started with the mandolin.

In July 1999, they auditioned and were hired for their first gig, a

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A Conversation with Sandy Cherryholmes (continued)

SC: And it's been like that ever since. They just work with us. We get a vision for something, and lead them, and they follow, and they work hard. And it's kind of like a big team.

PM: It's unbelievable. Can you take me back further, just a little bit, to the days before the kids, and closer to where the story begins. Where did you and Jere each grow up, and how did you meet?

SC: I spent some of my youth in Ohio. My family was from the east. Then we moved out into California about 1967. I was born in Lynwood, California, actually. My folks couldn't make up their mind where they wanted to live. Jere was born in Huntington Park, California. We met going to his father's church. His father is a preacher. And we were in the music team at the church. I'm the piano player, actually. And he's the guitar player. Doing music together, that's something that we always enjoyed.

PM: Wow. After the tragic death of your daughter, Shelley, in '99, the story goes that a bluegrass festival that the family attended changed everything