Local band plays at Backroads Bar & Grill

The Bar BQ Boyz will perform at Backroads Bar & Grill, 8 p.m. to midnight on Saturday. Backroads is located in the Meridian Business Park off Airport Road.

The Bar BQ Boyz are a Carson Valley-based band that plays a variety of bluegrass, classic rock, blues, country and reggae music. The group formed about a year ago and includes Paul Cutunilli on mandolin and bass, Bobby Smile on guitar and dobro, Johnny Walter on stand-up bass and blues harmonica and Michael Chambon on banjo and dobro.

Walter, Smile and Cutunilli are co-workers at GE Energy. Chambon joined the group, making it a quartet. Cutunilli and Chambon sing lead and harmony vocals, Walter sings bass back-up vocals and takes the lead on several numbers, including off-beat tunes like Commander Cody's "Hot Rod Lincoln."

Their repertoire includes bluegrass standards like Bill Monroe's "Walls of Time," as well as tunes from the popular movie "O Brother, Where Art Thou?" On the heels of the camp classic, "The Ballad of Jed Clampett," (a.k.a., "The Beverly Hillbillies") they are likely to break out with a Led Zeppelin tune, or "All Along the Watchtower," written by Bob Dylan and popularized by Jimi Hendrix. Grateful Dead or Johnny Cash might follow, with Bob Marley's reggae beat close behind.

Musically, their backgrounds are diverse. Smile, Cutunilli and Walter have played for several bands, and have toured, recorded and opened for national performing artists. Walter led the local "Blue Dawgs Band." Smile majored in guitar at the Berklee School of Music in Boston. Cutunilli, after playing guitar in a touring and recording band, received his grandfather's mandolin as a wedding present and has returned to his Telluride bluegrass roots. Chambon studied classical piano for 10 years, traded that in for the banjo, and now enjoys jamming at Northern Nevada Bluegrass Association events.

Backroads Bar & Grill is located at 224 Meridian Blvd., Minden. For more information, call 782-3766.