Spotlight on Shoefly

In 2010, the hometown performing group Rhythm In Shoes had their final, blow-out performance on the Main Stage of the Cityfolk Festival. Many of the people who danced in the group through its long run returned to perform that night, and it was one heck of a memorable show for a long-time fan like me.

Well creative talents like founders Rick Good (banjo, guitar, vocals) and Sharon Leahy (guitar, bass, snare, feet, vocals) don't stay off the stage for long. Shoefly is a five-person old-time music and dance group composed of Rick and Sharon , Emma Young (bass, vocals), Ben Cooper (fiddle, bass, vocals) and Paul Kovac (banjo, guitar, mandolin, vocals). The band is solidly rooted in the old-time country stringband music of the 1920s and 1930s, bluegrass and honky-tonk country music—expect lots of red-hot fiddle and banjo tunes, some sweet and soulful singing and Leahy and Young liable at any moment to burst into some exuberant free-style clogging. The quintet’s first recording, Six-Fifty, was released in 2011; in addition to covers of songs by Grandpa Jones, Connie Smith and Don Stover, the album contains three songs written by Rick Good, the 2011 recipient of the Ohio Heritage Fellowship award and the co-founder of another legendary and fondly remembered Dayton arts institution, the Hotmud Family.

This video is from the days of Rhythm in Shoes, but gives you an idea of what you'll see on stage on Sunday only. The band will also play for a Barn Dance that day, called by Sharon Leahy.