 Cherryholmes The Grammy nominated first family of bluegrass music, CHERRYHOLMES, will be showcasing their hard-driving instrumental virtuosity and explosive vocal harmonies on stage in Tawas City on Saturday evening, May 9th, as part of the Corsair Concert Series. The 7:30 p.m. concert will take place at the Tawas United Methodist Church Family Center. You've never met a family quite like the Cherryholmes. Ten years ago, the band didn't exist, and half of its youthful members had never yet held a musical instrument. Now, it's hard to imagine bluegrass music without them. The story of the Cherryholmes Band started when Jere and Sandy Cherryholmes met in their church, married, and began raising a family of six children in Bell, California, just outside of Los Angeles. Jere was a carpenter for the L.A. County school system and Sandy home-schooled the children. In 1999 the eldest child, daughter Shelly, passed away after a long illness due to a stroke suffered 8 years earlier while undergoing open heart surgery. Jere tells the story: "We realized after Shelly had that stroke how fleeting life is, We decided we were going to make memories by doing things together." To lift their spirits, the family decided to make a day trip to a local bluegrass festival, unaware that inspiration would change their lives forever. "We had such a good time that I told Sandy that as a family get-together type of thing we should start a jam around the house," remembers Jere. "So, I scrounged around for any instruments I could get my hands on. I fixed up broken guitars. I talked to friends who had at one time given their kids violin lessons that had this old fiddle up in the attic with no bridge and a bow with no hair in it. I did whatever I could to get instruments so that we could start doing that." Cia (banjo), B.J. (fiddle), Skip (guitar), and Molly (fiddle) were assigned instruments. "Well, if you asked them, they would have all picked drums," Sandy laughs. "Cia was playing guitar in church and singing, the little kids weren't playing anything, and I was a piano player. So, I decided that I would play whatever was left, and so would Jere. That left him with the bass and me with the mandolin." "When the younger ones were just starting, they couldn't play much, so we orchestrated the music so that no one could tell," Sandy explains. "I divided the parts up and they only played one note each - so it sounded like double stops. Then, I played mandolin with them, and they played on pitch. We taught Skip to play a few banjo licks on the mandolin, and then we just played really loud and fast," she laughs. "Within four months, we started getting invitations from people wanting us to come and play." By year's end, the family had taken a gig on Saturdays in the San Bernardino Mountains. "We started dancing out of a desperate need for songs," Sandy confides. "We only had about 15 songs and we had to play for six hours! I had been teaching the kids Irish step-dancing in the P.E. classes anyway, so we put together some dance routines." What started out as a desire to draw the family closer together during their time of sorrow had developed into a legitimate part-time band. Cherryholmes won a few local contests and the promoters started calling as their skills improved and their reputation spread. After a 32-hour round trip to play a show in Colorado, Jere realized they had reached their weekend driving limit. "People advised us that if we were going to do this with our kids, we needed to do it while they were young," he said. "So we talked about it and decided that we were going to sell the house and I would quit my job and we would just go - and whatever happened, happened. I left my job in July of 2002." ;void(0)) In 2003, Cherryholmes made their first appearances on the Grand Ole Opry, Ernest Tubb's Midnight Jamboree, the Country Music Association's (CMA) Music Fest and International Bluegrass Music Association's (IBMA) FanFest. In late summer of 2003, the family traveled to Tawas City to perform in the Corsair Concert Series. Their incredible stage show on that September evening was an unforgettable experience for everyone. Pretty soon, everyone was buzzing about the Cherryholmes. Their growing popularity caught the attention of Ricky Skaggs, who signed the band to his Skaggs Family Records label in 2005. Their self-titled debut entered Billboard's Top Bluegrass Albums chart at #3, even gaining status on the Top Country Albums chart, unheard of for a bluegrass act making their first national chart appearance. Bluegrass fans were thrilled in May 2005 when the Cherryholmes returned to Tawas City - one of their pioneer venues - to rouse the audience with an astounding level of musical accomplishment. Two months later, when nominations were announced for the 16th Annual International Bluegrass Music Association(IBMA) Awards, Cherryholmes appeared as nominees not only for Emerging Artist of the Year (an award given to artists on the rise); the band also received a nomination for the most coveted award of the night, Entertainer of the Year, making them the first act in IBMA's 20 year history to be nominated in both categories. Their electrifying awards show performance made instant fans out of those still in doubt of what seemed like an overnight success. When Cherryholmes was named Entertainer of the Year, the entire audience leapt to its feet. Their first Grammy nomination capped off an amazing year, implying that the best was yet to come from this dynamic family band. Five short years after their first introduction to music, the Cherryholmes family had risen to the highest rank. Their follow-up album, Cherryholmes II: Black and White, enjoyed even greater success, topping Billboard's Top Bluegrass Albums chart and earning the band their second Grammy nomination. Their third Skaggs Family Records release, Cherryholmes III: Don't Believe, immediately ascended to the top of the charts and was nominated for two 2009 Grammy Awards, indicative action of what we can expect in the future from a band that never ceases to amaze.  Fast forward to the present: The family now resides in Nashville, Tennessee and maintains a very busy international touring schedule, with performances as diverse as headlining a Celtic Festival in Scotland (click on photo to view video) and performing with a 100-piece orchestra in New York City. We were thrilled when Sandy recently phoned and informed us that the family would like to return to Tawas City for a concert and an update on their successful life journey. Join us as we welcome back Jere (bass), Sandy (mandolin), Cia (banjo), BJ (fiddle, mandolin), Skip (guitar) and Molly (fiddle) for another memorable evening with a truly remarkable family.Advance tickets ($15) for the Saturday, May 9th concert are available at Nordic Sports in East Tawas and Reed's On The River in Tawas City. Proceeds from the concert series are used to maintain and operate the Corsair Skiing and Hiking Trails in the Huron National Forest. For advance tickets and further information call (989) 362-2001. 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