When Andy Pond enrolled at Appalachian State University in Boone, his brother George and George's then-wife Caroline joined him to form Snake Oil Medicine Show, coining the term "slamgrass" for their colorful and kinetic update on old-time string music—soon inflecting it with deep pockets of jam-inspired groove, shades of rockabilly smoothness, and most famously, comfortable reggae rhythms. It was, as Caroline puts it, "the perfect thing for us to do, to move to North Carolina, to be in the roots of Appalachian music and learn from old time music and bluegrass music."
Nineteen years into Snake Oil's career, the band has become something of an Asheville institution—frequenting every music festival and venue these mountains offer, representing an intersection of world music and traditional Southern sound that's become synonymous with the city's sonic hallmarks. Their experiences traveling to Jamaica to learn reggae music and incorporating bluegrass with reggae created "such an amazing sound" that North Carolina—Boone and Asheville—proved the perfect place to experiment, mixing genres with abandon.
Beyond Snake Oil, Andy became a founding force in AVAS (The Acoustic Vibration Appreciation Society) alongside Jay Sanders, Jason Krekel, and others—a progressive acoustic group that released their self-titled debut in 2000, blending newgrass with influences ranging from Bill Frisell and Mahavishnu Orchestra to Scandinavian folk legends. These days, this teacher and musician focuses on "fostering creative learning environments, promoting World Peace through Music and Art, and attending to forgiveness and acceptance."
From Boone student to Asheville institution, from slamgrass inventor to world peace advocate, Andy Pond proves that the best banjo players don't just pick strings—they pick philosophies, picking their way through genres and geographies until they find the sound that makes reggae and bluegrass not just coexist, but groove together like they were always meant to.
