The Dirty Grindstones

Kentucky’s own Dirty Grindstones make raucous music with roots that expand far and wide, with influences as diverse and beyond their years as Led Zeppelin, The Beatles, Frank Zappa, Hank Williams Sr., and The Parliament/Funkadelic. This band is hard pressed to find an answer when they are posed with the daunting question of “What kind of music do you play?” The boys have found that the best answer is “listen and decide for yourself what the hell we’re doing”. Austin Roush, Brandon Roush, Mike Jones, Tyler Blair, and Brandon Schleter began honing their blend of funk, blues, soul, rock, and everything in between in the cold winter of 2006 within the city limits of their hometown of Somerset, KY. The members of the band met and shared their mutual infatuation with the vinyl records of their parent’s closets at the high school they all attended. Unlike most young startup bands, The Dirty Grindstones started out playing mostly original material with very few covers put into sets. They were very young when they started the band and like a fine wine have only matured and gotten better with age. Brandon Roush’s unbelievably unique, raspy and chillingly powerful vocals are perfectly coupled with his brother Austin’s Stevie Ray Vaughan, Hendrix, and Jack White inspired lead guitar and the uber-tight rhythm section of Jones, Blair and Schleter. In 2007 the band added multi-instrumentalist Zach Grider to the mix. Grider’s keyboard, trumpet, and accordion services have filled the band out to its true funky capacity. At this point the band really started cooking and began taking their music much more seriously. The Roush brother duo commenced writing infectious funky blues tunes with a rock n’ roll edge that cuts like a bowie knife. These young men from Kentucky truly started garnering attention with their live performances. Due to the fact that they are tremendous friends, they have been able to bring something extremely exciting and cohesive to live shows. When these boys take the stage people tend to take notice. A Dirty Grindstones show is more than just a concert; it’s a completely original rambunctious ear pleasing party. The band has played nearly every club and music venue that the state of Kentucky has to offer and also appeared at the prestigious Master Musicians Festival (2009, and 2010) along side the likes of Richie Havens, Robert Randolph and the Family Band, The Avett Brothers, The Old Crow Medicine Show, and the Felice Brothers. One of the band’s finest achievements came in 2011 when they placed 5th in the Road to Bonnaroo contest out of more than 1000 international acts. Armed with funky grooves and a great attitude, The Dirty Grindstones are ready to give every fan just what they need. You may not know who these young musicians are at the present but you’ll soon feel their power. The kids are down to earth but are no slackers when it comes to their passion. They are ready to break through and make their dreams come true but it’s not just talk. The Dirty Grindstones have the tunes to back this up. Stomp your feet and get down, The Grindstones are in town… We're bourbon dipped funk n' roll.