She labels herself a homebody in Bryson City, North Carolina. But Columbus native Allie Burbrink’s calendar would indicate otherwise.
A Facebook page features photos and written references from California to Kansas City. That’s because Burbrink and partner Frank Lee criss-cross the country to perform older bluegrass-based tunes from the 1920s, 1930s and 1940s.
Fittingly, one of the songs they play regularly is “I’ve Always Been a Rambler.”
Their artistic wanderings bring them to the 120-seat Harlequin Theatre inside FairOaks Mall for a 90-minute concert at 7 p.m. today.
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“We really like the travelling,” Burbrink said, speaking from their home in western North Carolina.
Clearly, they are as driven as much as they are driving.
Lee, who plays guitar, slide guitar and banjo, is a veteran of the Americana/folk genre, having toured in the 1990s as a founding member of The Freight Hoppers on Rounder Records, a longtime major label of the genre. Burbrink, on guitar, banjo and harmonica, is fresh off several years with Hoosier-based folk group The Whipstitch Sallies.
Lee still plays intermittently with The Freight Hoppers, as does Burbrink.
Burbrink laughed during a discussion of their music when asked if she, at age 33, were something of an old soul — a description that she heard in 2003 while playing the Fairy Godmother during a production of “Cinderella” at Columbus North High School.
“I suppose there is some element of that,” she said. “There are others my age in this (early bluegrass) music who have simply grown up with it.”
Burbrink and Lee expect few listeners will know many of the nearly century-old numbers on their set list. But they would bet their banjos that folks will love the works if they give them a chance.
Take a look at the first video and recording of the song, “Standing On a Mountain,” from their 15-track, soon-to-be-released disc, “Roll On Clouds.” Burbrink and Lee, appearing in musical and relational harmony, are photographed eyes closed, hearts open, holding hands as they croon their sweet vocals at North Carolina’s Big Creek Studios.
The cover tune unfolds as a rollicking, bluegrass number about a lover who vanished into thin air on a hilltop, as the opening lyrics mystically testify: “Darling will you marry me, I asked a maiden fair/I turned my back upon her, when I looked she wasn’t there.”
Even their gospel tunes such as “I’m Getting Ready to Go” offer a strong, toe-tapping, infectious rhythm that might make listeners feel heavenly.
“People rarely are familiar with these melodies,” Lee said. “But I know there are a lot of open ears out there.”
They understand if people see them as revivalists.
“That’s a pretty good way to put it,” Burbrink said. “There’s a whole culture of old-time musicians and Appalachian musicians down here in the Southeast.”
She and Lee are among artists escorting a slice of that antiquated mountain culture nationwide, while adding new arrangements.
“It’s a way of keeping that (culture and history) fresh,” Burbrink said.
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Who: Folk/bluegrass artists Frank Lee and Allie Burbrink (a Columbus native) performing a collection of mostly older bluegrass, gospel and what Lee calls hillbilly music as far back as the 1920s in a 90-minute concert. Lee and Burbrink are known among their musical peers for their Annual Banjo-Fiddle Frolic musical retreat in Bryson City, North Carolina.
When: 7 p.m. today
Where: Harlequin Theatre inside FairOaks Mall, 2380 25th St. in Columbus
Concessions: Cash bar available
Tickets: $15 in advance at frankandallie.brownpapertickets.com or at the mall office; or $20 at the door.
Information: theharlequintheatre.com or 812-343-4597.
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