… did you say "Mebanesville?" ...

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Introductions

Mebanesville introduces and delights live audiences with the best in transatlantic roots, rhythm, and world music from the Mediterranean Basin to the British and Irish Isles down the Mississippi to the Gulf of Mexico.

About the Band

Initially formed by Jamey Tippens, Larry Vellani, Nettie Lassiter, Peggy Boswell, Sarah Rubin, and Sherry Lea, Mebanesville, the ensemble, began in the spring of 2000 as a group of neighbors and friends, playing an informal Friday evening music session at a coffee bar in Mebane, NC. Soon people were inviting the musicians to play for private parties and special events. The players took the name Mebanesville – one of Mebane's original names, in use in the community from the late18th into the late 19th century, and as originally incorporated - to reflect their love of living locally and exploring music globally.

Today the full-kit band can include Anthony Holderied, drums; Don Porter, bass and guitar; Colombian-born, Fernando Suárez González, accordion and piano; Ukrainian-born, Iryna Tkachenko, bowed psaltery, mandolin, melodica, ukulele, vocals, and xylophone; Jane Davis, violin and vocals; Jody McCall, banjo, bass, harmonica, and vocals; Larry Vellani, banjo, bass, guitar, mandolin, and vocals; Mike Gasperino, bass, guitar, and vocals; Peggy Boswell, pennywhistles; Sherry White Lea, bodhran, djembe, hand percussion, harmonica, and vocals; and Steve Block, bass, mandolin, and vocals. 

Mebanesville performs at some of the most popular clubs, wineries, restaurants, and concert stages, as well as for universities and community organizations, in the Triangle and Triad of North Carolina, and beyond. Mebanesville has collaborated musically for stage with PlayMakers Repertory Company, the Durham Savoyards, The Raleigh Little Theatre,  Raleigh’s Sonorous Road Theater, Burlington’s Gallery Players, and the Triangle-based dance company The Dance Cure. 

Mebanesville co-founder, Loreins “Larry” Vellani, is the immediate descendant of Reggio Emilian (Arşân ed Rèz) emigrants. Larry began collecting melodies and lyrics from his family, and later friends and professional musical influences, reflective of the reality of the uprooted and resettled. Growing up in the Hilltop Community of Columbus, Ohio, Larry learned how to sing in Latin and Italian before he could read in English.

Larry has performed with some of the most respected interpreters of social and narrative song and dance—in English, Italian, and Spanish--including Guy and Candy Carawan, Barbara Dane, Mimi Fariña, Ronnie Gilbert, Rhiannon Giddens, Beverly Grant, Si Kahn, Natalia Marrone, Fran McKendree, Michela Musolino, Holly Near, Bruce Phillips, Fabio Turchetti,  Baldemar Velasquez, and Salvatore Villani. He also has performed with some of the Southeast's most renowned traditional Anglo and Afro-American musicians, including Lonny Austin, Marvin Gaster, Tommy Jarrell, Lauchlin Shaw, Paul Taylor, and Joe Thompson.

Both Larry and his fellow musician, Mebanesville co-founder, and spouse, Peggy Boswell, along with their children, are citizens of the Republic of Italy, as well as the United States. Larry was humbled and honored to be recognized in October 2017 as the Outstanding Italian American of the Year in North Carolina by the Triangle Sons of Italy (TSOI), the largest, longest-established organization for men and women of Italian heritage in North Carolina, in recognition for his study and promotion of Italian and American-Italian story, music, and song.

Whether on stage or tableside, the members of Mebanesville specialize in vocal and instrumental harmonies that creatively embrace songs of love, life, and the human condition.

For further information or sampling, you can explore further this site, as well as visit Mebanesville on FaceBook at http://www.facebook.com/pages/Mebanesville/64872513534?ref=ts or ReverbNation.com/Mebanesville at www.ReverbNation.com/Mebanesville.