Riverside Grit performs at the Canebrake Gardens in downtown Northport
(Joseph Evans, Katie Evans, Nathan Holloway, Chris Johnson)

Some try to be different. But to Riverside Grit, it seems to come pretty naturally. Riverside Grit contains members of several past and current local bands. But its sound is unique, driven by the dueling and intertwining melodies of its two man saxophone section. The group's folk/jazz fusion style is winning a growing audience around Tuscaloosa. The group enjoyed success last year with a great performance at the Kentuck Festival of the Arts, and are also a featured act in this Spring's Local Band Jam. Guitarist Joseph Evans spent some time with Druid City Online during a recent gig. Here's what he had to say ...

Druid City Online - Thanks for your time. Could you please introduce yourself to our readers, and tell where you're from?

Joe Evans, guitar ... I'm Joseph Evans, and I'm originally from Tuscaloosa. I was in the military for a little while as a kid though. But I've been living here, married, about five or six years.

Tell me a little about the band. Who is Riverside Grit?

Let's see, I think there's five (players) right now? In the past, we've had banjo players and fiddle players and sometimes there's a jostling around of the members. But right now we have a drummer (Justin Peake), a guitar (Joseph Evans), a bass (Katie Evans), and two saxophones (Chris Johnson and Nathan Holloway).

That makes for an interesting sound. How would you describe it?

Well, we sort of took old time Southern music and its evolution into jazz and tried to expound on that a little bit. And it's pretty fun.

How have people responded to your sound here in Tuscaloosa?

Well, I think we have a pretty good response when we play. We played at Kentuck (Festival of the Arts) this year and seemed to have a pretty good audience. Everybody enjoyed it and it was a lot of fun.

Kentuck is such a great event. It must have been a blast playing there.

Oh yeah, it was great! We got open for Ralph Stanley. That's pretty amazing you know? Last year was a great Kentuck gathering.

Would you talk a bit about some of the other shows you've played?

We mainly play around town most of the time. It's more of a fun thing for all of us to do. And I get to play music with my wife.

It's not often that you have the husband/wife combo. Do you play at home?

Oh yeah, all the time.

Describe the spot in your house where you sit down to play.

(laughs) It's all over the place really ... all over the house. Our dining room is full of instruments.

Why do you do it? Why do you do Riverside Grit?

It's just fun. (laughs) I'm also sort of obsessed with the history of music and everything, so I like to have different groups where I can play different styles.

Who are some of those other groups?

We have the Earth ART Ensemble, which is a really big band that plays contemporary music. We've had concert where there's been 17 people in the band. We play everything from avant garde jazz to old time bluegrass. Then there's Metaphor ... a straight ahead jazz group. I'm also in the Bionic J Duo, which is like a techno situation. It's pretty fun. I've got lots of things going on and I'm just trying to stay busy.

What kind of perspective can you offer on the local music scene here in the past three or four years? What has changed and what has stayed the same?

It's an interesting place. I think a lot of it depends on getting a group of people working together and competing with each other in a nice manner. Then everybody starts to lift each other up.

Finally, look ahead a few months for Riverside Grit ... what do you see on the horizon?

We're coming out with a CD hopefully in two months. We're going to see if we can get some tours and maybe play some arts festivals and things like that.

Thanks for your time.

Thank you.

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