The Fellas, a band mostly comprised of Grove City College students, will open for country blues singer Pryor Baird at 7 p.m. Friday, Nov. 15 at the Guthrie Theatre in Olde Town Grove City.
Baird was on NBC’s “The Voice” and made it to the semifinals with the top eight contestants. He has woven a unique style of country and blues with gritty vocals, burning guitar licks and powerful melodies.
The Fellas is a recently-formed student band with members Zachary Urbytes ’21, Ethan Raynaud ’22, Peyton Brogan ’22 and Noah Voltz. Urbytes plays piano and provides vocal harmony, Brogan plays the Cajon, which is a wooden box drum, Reynaud plays lead guitar and Voltz plays guitar and sings lead.
Urbytes has been playing classical piano since he was 4 years old and routinely plays for Christ Presbyterian Church in Grove City, but just recently learned to sing while playing. “I am of course very excited to be able to play on Friday and be able to sing, I have never sang before an audience,” he said.
Voltz landed the gig when Amanda Rumbaugh ’12, the Guthrie’s live entertainment manager and theater director, reached out to him after he performed at “The Guthrie’s Got Talent” event in October.
“Music is a language that everyone can speak and it’s incredibly special to me to be able to continue to speak in a way that isn’t what we are normally used to,” Voltz said. “I am incredibly excited to play music with some of my best friends. It allows me and them alike to share a huge passion with others.”
The band will play three songs, all well-known “foot-stomping country jives:” “All Your’n” by Tyler Childers; “One Number Away” by Luke Combs; and “Wagon Wheel,” an Old Crow Medicine Show classic covered most recently by Darius Rucker.
Tickets are available online at www.theguthrie.org or at the door. Student tickets are available at half-price.
Student bands are common on campus as musicians meet up in rehearsal rooms in Pew Fine Arts Center or at coffee houses or other student-run events throughout the year.