Jackass Flats, not just bluegrass anymore

When Richmond-based band Jackass Flats formed in 2000, it was "bluegrass crazy," said co-founder, guitarist and pedal steel player Stephen Kuester.

The group took its name from an abandoned hotel/bait shop/restaurant on U.S. 60 between Richmond and Williamsburg. Kuester remembered driving by the shop with his family when he was young.

"As a child it was the only time I was allowed to say... the word 'jackass' and get away with it," he said.

In the early years of their partnership, Kuester and banjo and guitar player Travis Rinehart chased their bluegrass heroes, such as the father of bluegrass, Bill Monroe.

"We had bluegrass instrumentation and covered a lot of the standards," he said.

As the band grew, adding bass player Eddie Carlton, Virginia Beach keyboard/harmonica player Cory Potrafka and drummer Scott Lewis, its songwriting sounded a lot less like bluegrass.

"We have always had a love of bluegrass music, but with the band that we have now we can put our foot in every corner from country to Western swing," Kuester said.

Two months ago, they added a sixth member, fiddle player Jesse Wells, to the lineup.

With production help from North Carolina's Bobby Read, who is a member of Bruce Hornsby's band the Noisemakers, Jackass Flats released its third album, "Rusty Feeling."

"He's a great producer, a great sound engineer, and he has a golden ear and really knows how to squeeze great performances out of us in the studio," Kuester said of Read.

The 11-song album is a follow-up to "Purgatory Mountain" and "Greetings From Jackass Flats." Its influences stretch from honky-tonk country and jazz to Rinehart's Beatles-inspired arrangements.

"We've got a nine-piece horn section on one of the songs," a tune called 'Everybody Knows,' " Kuester said.

The band hits the road from 12 to 20 times a month, depending on the season, with gigs in New York, Atlanta and Nashville as well as many in the mid-Atlantic region.

On Friday, Jackass Flats will celebrate "Rusty Feeling" with a CD release party at The Jewish Mother in Virginia Beach.

"We have been around awhile, and people have known us for our bluegrass instrumentation," Kuester said, "but I think our biggest accomplishment has been us being able to turn that sound around and change the band from the ground up... and to write what I consider to be our most inspired songs on the record."

Patty Jenkins, (757) 446-2298, patty.jenkins@pilotonline.com