Award-winning bluegrass band Border Ride will perform Friday, March 10, as part of the Oil City Arts Council’s Winter Concert Series.
The concert will be held from 7:30 to 9:30 p.m. in the Great Room, located on the first floor of the National Transit
Building at 206 Seneca St., Oil City.
Tickets prices are $10 per person and $8 for members of the Oil City Arts Council. Tickets for the performance or multiple performances may be purchased at the door.
Border Ride consists of Cathy Pearson on the fiddle; Scott Pearson on the mandolin and fiddle; Jimmy Metz on the
banjo, dobro and vocals; Darla Evans on bass and vocals; and Nelson Boosel on guitar and vocals.
Cathy Pearson, originally from West Virginia, has won championships at the Winfield National Fiddle Contest, Vandalia Fiddle Contest, Galax Fiddle Contest, Mid Atlantic Fiddle Contest, and has placed in the prestigious Grand
Masters Contest in Nashville, Tennessee, along with winning state championships in Maryland, Ohio, West Virginia,
Pennsylvania and Michigan. She also enjoys playing the mandolin in her spare time and has placed in the Mid Atlantic Mandolin Championships as well as the Mayville Bluegrass Festival Mandolin Championships. She has also got to perform for Sen. Robert C. Byrd of West Virginia and be an instructor at the Houghton College in New York and the College of Davis & Elkins in Elkins, West Virginia.
Scott Pearson started playing at the age of 9 and quickly excelled into an award-winning musician. He has won the Merlefest and Mayville mandolin contests and has placed numerous times in the national mandolin contest in Winfield, Kansas, and Rockygrass in Colorado. He is a three-time winner of the New York state guitar contest and has won state contests in Ohio, New York, Pennsylvania and Maryland in fiddle, guitar and mandolin. Scott Pearson has been fortunate to play on stage with Tim Stafford, Del McCoury and Bill Monroe, just to mention a few.
Jimmy Metz began playing fiddle at the age of 5 years old, and by the age of 12 he was playing professionally at local square dances. At age 22, he did a sixweek tour with the Country Gentlemen. During those years he played alongside the West Virginia Travelers, Jerry Douglas, Ricky Skaggs, Mac Wiseman, Bill Monroe and too many others to mention here. In 1970, Metz was the Ohio state bluegrass banjo champion and was the Kent State Folk Festival banjo champion three years in a row. He is known for his driving banjo and excellent tenor voice.
Darla Evans started playing guitar at the age of 10 when her mother showed her first chords. In the mid-80s she joined her first country band called Orange Blossom Country. From 1989- 1995, she joined her first bluegrass band, Leather Britches, which became very popular in the area’s bluegrass scene. She has had the pleasure of performing
at many bluegrass festivals and being a part of the entertainment with bands such as Alison Krauss and Union Station, Claire Lynch, Lauri Lewis, The Lonesome River Band, Mountain Heart, Jim and Jesse, Bill Monroe, just to
name a few.
Nelson Boosel got his start at the age of 3 singing “You Ain’t Nothin but a Hound Dog” to everyone’s surprise at a church service. At 19, he started playing professionally in a country-rock band by performing in local clubs and VFWs. His first bluegrass band was Church Street Blues, which has won or placed in numerous band competitions including Bob Evans, Renofest and SPBGMA. In 2009, he and fellow band member Jimmy Metz wrote the song “Black Bubblin Crude” and, with the help of Church Street Blues, took first place in a song-writing competition at the Oil 150 celebration in Oil City. Boosel has become a local favorite and can be found performing at North Country Brewing.
