03/23/2024
Our last featured band for the 2024 Red Brick Bluegrass Festival is a local favorite - Steve & Sheryl Hartz!
Since 1977, Steve Hartz has been building, repairing, and playing stringed instruments at the General Mercantile and Oldtime String Shop on the square in downtown Nacogdoches. Steve has always loved and collected musical styles, ideas and stories that reflect earlier times. As a result, in 1998 he started his own recording company and received a Crossroads music award for his first CD, Crooked Steep and Rocky. This was followed by two East Texas inspired book and CD projects, By the Muddy Angelina and Settlers of the Western Woods.
Steve’s original songs have been featured as title cuts on five different projects by other artists including original Dixie Chick member, Robin Macy, on Danger in the Air, David Peterson and 1946’s Howling Blue Winds, and Southern Rail’s Glory Train, which was nominated for the International Bluegrass Music Association’s gospel album of the year in 1996.
In addition to performing his oldtime-style original music, Steve and his wife, Sheryl, have put on medicine shows and historical re-enactment programs from East Texas to far West Texas. Their music is a combination of original and traditional tunes designed to transport the listener to simpler times.
More recently, Steve and Sheryl have had the pleasure of performing with Jay White, who makes a perfect addition with his unique two-string washtub bass and harmonies. Before moving to Nacogdoches and becoming familiar with oldtime music, Jay spent more than 20 years performing as part of the country-rock scene in California, touring in Rick Nelson’s Stone Canyon Band, as well as playing with Doug Kershaw and Davy Jones of the Monkeys.
Steve & Sheryl Hartz are one of four talented acts that will be taking the stage on Saturday, May 4th, for the Red Brick Bluegrass Festival presented by Rex Perry Autoplex. We'll see you there!
