ST. PAUL, Va. – Charlie Engle won’t go so far as calling himself the “Singing Librarian.”
After all, you won’t find Engle crooning the classics of William Faulkner.
But take a look at this former DJ double-life. Here’s a man who sort books by day in St. Paul but becomes a musician playing shows by night.
Engle, 51, is a founding member of a group called the Big Red Rug Band. It’s a part-time act, with five members playing Americana and what Engle calls “progressive folk.”
Sure, says the easygoing Engle, it would be a blast doing this full-time.
But back to reality.
“Everybody works full time, so we have to work around most people’s schedules,” Engle said. “We could probably play every weekend – if we were playing bluegrass.”
‘OUT OF THE GROOVE’
Over the past couple of years, this act has performed at Java J’s in Bristol, Va., and the Acoustic Coffeehouse in Johnson City.
“We do a lot of singer-songwriter stuff,” Engle said.
The group’s regular cache of covers includes “Live Forever” by Billy Joe Shaver; “Paradise” by John Prine and “Ring of Fire” by Johnny Cash.
“Mostly, what we’re playing right now is a lot of original stuff and that singer-songwriter material,” Engle said. “All of us write really.”
The band includes Marty Jenkins and Tommy Jenkins – both from Coeburn. Both, too, are former members of Possum Hollers. Rounding out the band is 21-year-old Megan Clay on vocals, plus Benny Mays on guitar and mandolin.
THING THAT CAN’T SING
Along the way, the band recorded a CD called “Out of the Groove” in Big Stone Gap at Maggard Studios.
Sometimes, today, the act is dubbed “Charlie Engle and the Big Red Rug Band.”
Yet Engle isn’t into any kind of star-act ego trip.
“Most of the time,” he said, “we just advertise it as the Big Red Rug Band. They’re not a backup band. We’re all in it together. We all sing lead on different songs. We all write our own tunes. And we build our shows around original music. We don’t have a star.”
Well, maybe there’s one. But that’s a thing that can’t sing.
It has to do with how the band got its name. “We practice at my house most of the time, and I have this big red rug,” Engle said.
Somebody looked at it and named the band. It stuck – especially, Engle said, “after we started taking the big red rug with us to some shows.”
YOU SHOULD KNOW
What: Show by Charlie Engle and the Big Red Rug Band
Where: Cupid’s Coffee Shop, 109 Sixth St., Norton, Va.
When: July 11, 8 p.m.
Info: (276) 679-3030
Web: www.myspace.com/thebigredrugband
jtennis@bristolnews.com | (276) 791-0704
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