The members of Goin’ Home are a cross-section of the southern United States, from the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia to the Missouri Bootheel to the hills of West Tennessee. Will (mandolin, guitar, resonator guitar, vocals) and Laura Beth Mays (guitar, bass, vocals) had years of experience playing a variety of country and rock music before the acoustic sound took over their lives in the form of the earlier, popular bluegrass band Hickory Withe.
Will’s vocals can take you from the backroads of Bakersfield to the honky-tonks of Texas and all over the mountains. Laura Beth’s voice is one of the more expressive in bluegrass music. Steady and strong in the fast numbers, she can pull off the lilting lift in a slow song to break your heart. Ed (Bubba) Richter (banjo, bass, vocals) has an exciting touch on the five-string and his sparkling high-neck work really adds spice to the Goin’ Home experience. Craig Yarbrough (guitar, bass, mandolin, vocals) displays his spirited style in every song he sings, and every lick he plays.
Names and resumes are never enough. When all this comes to life before you as Goin’ Home, you have a vital group offering informal interplay between each other and the audience, a rollicking band on the fast ones, and as soulful a sound as you’ll ever hear on the sad love songs and the stirring gospel pieces. They’ll make you feel welcome as pie.
—Tom Stone
editor of Newsgrass