Bluegrass and Books to Benefit RISE
“I bet you’ve never heard a drum part played on a banjo,” said Carly Burruss of The Sawnee Mountain Train Wreck before the band broke into a bluegrass cover of Kacey Musgrave’s Smoke.
Burruss, a student at Kennesaw State University, Jordan Wallace, a biology senior at Brenau University, and Wallace’s sister Patience Bryant, a local high school student, make up The Sawnee Mountain Train Wreck, a bluegrass group out of Cumming, Georgia, that brought out a crowd of students and community members to Brenau’s Tea Room for the Bluegrass and Books book drive.
The book drive, put on by the Phi Kappa Phi and Alpha Lambda Delta honor societies, benefits children in RISE, Real Interactive Summer Learning Experience. RISE, an immersive summer educational program, was developed by Brenau students as a way to fight summer learning loss in Gainesville school children through partnerships between Brenau University, the Gainesville Housing Authority, the Georgia Mountain Food Bank and others community organizations.
Wallace, a member of Phi Kappa Phi at Brenau, said she and the rest of The Sawnee Mountain Train Wreck wanted to bring out some more people and in turn raise more awareness about the book drive and RISE.
“We’ve been playing together for a year and I’ve been playing mandolin for a year and a few months,” Wallace joked. “My grandfather gave my sister a banjo and I decided to buy a mandolin and started playing with her and we formed the group a little bit later.”
The band played a variety of tunes including a few standards, I’m Working on a Building and Swing Low Sweet Chariot, and added a bluegrass twang to a few covers including Nancy Sinatra’s These Boots Are Made For Walkin’ and Kacey Musgrave’s Smoke.
Learn more about RISE at http://www.gainesvillehousing.org/rise and The Sawnee Mountain Train Wreck at https://www.facebook.com/TheSawneeMountainTrainWreck.
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- From left, Jordan Wallace, a biology senior at Brenau, laughs along side her bandmate Carly Burruss, a student at Kennesaw State University, as they play with their band, The Sawnee Mountain Train Wreck, during the Bluegrass and Books event at the Brenau University Tea Room.
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- Jordan Wallace, a biology senior at Brenau, strums her mandolin along with her band, The Sawnee Mountain Train Wreck, during the Bluegrass and Books event at the Brenau University Tea Room.
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- Jordan Wallace, a biology senior at Brenau, laughs as she plays her mandolin with her band, The Sawnee Mountain Train Wreck, during the Bluegrass and Books event at the Brenau University Tea Room.
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- Members of the audience take video of The Sawnee Mountain Train Wreck as they play during the Bluegrass and Books event at the Brenau University Tea Room.
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- A show bill for The Sawnee Mountain Train Wreck’s performance during the Bluegrass and Books event was taped to the glass on the Tea Room’s front door.
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- Breanu University’s Jordan Wallace, center, introduces the other members of her band The Sawnee Mountain Train Wreck, Carly Burruss and Patience Bryant, standing at left, to some of her friends from Brenau. The Sawnee Mountain Train Wreck played two sets during the Bluegrass and Books book drive event to benefit RISE, a summer program developed by Breanu students to help summer learning loss in local school children.
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- Carly Burruss, left, and Patience Bryant, of The Sawnee Mountain Train Wreck chat during a performance break at the Bluegrass and Books event in the Brenau University Tea Room.
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- Members of The Sawnee Mountain Train Wreck play songs for a crowd in the Brenau University Tea Room during the Bluegrass and Books book drive event.
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- Jessi Shrout, a biology professor and lab coordinator at Brenau, takes a video as her student, Jordan Wallace, and the rest of her band play music during the Bluegrass and Books event in the Tea Room on Brenau’s Gainesville campus.
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- A cat looks in as the Bluegrass and Blues event gets underway at the Tea Room on Brenau’s Gainesville campus.
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- Attendees at the Bluegrass and Books event were encouraged to bring a new or gently used book to donate for the RISE program, a summer school type program developed by Brenau students to help learning loss over the summer in local elementary students.
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- Jordan Wallace, left, tunes her mandolin as Barbara Steinhaus, right, speaks with her colleagues before the start of the Bluegrass and Books event in the Tea Room on Brenau’s Gainesville campus.
