INTERLOCHEN -- You know how tired you are of your own family after a weeklong vacation. Now imagine spending 200 days a year on the road with them, plus weeks and months in the studio.
Oh, and mom's a yodeler.
That's the Cherryholmes life.
"We are doing it as a family thing," said Sandy Cherryholmes, the matriarch of the family band. "We all have different slants and eventually we end up settling on something good."
The award-winning and two-time Grammy-nominated bluegrass musicians -- parents and four kids -- play at 8 p.m. Saturday in Interlochen's Kresge Auditorium. Tickets are $26, available at tickets.interlochen.org or by calling 276-7800.
The band's music teems with bluegrass, celtic and jazz roots that are on display in each member's aggressive vocal styles combining to form explosive harmonies. Each member complements vocals with hard-driving instrumentals and fast-paced bluegrass licks.
The family also packs a visual punch that includes some Irish step-dancing and Mom's yodeling.
Cherryholmes formed in 1999 after the tragic loss of their eldest daughter and an attempt to lift spirits and add a music dynamic to the remaining four Cherryholmes children's homeschool schedule.
Parents Sandy and Jere decided to assign instruments to each family member after returning from a bluegrass festival, and within months the band was formed and winning contests.
"Well, if I had let them pick, all the boys would've picked drums," Sandy chuckled. "Boys just like to bang on things."
The Cherryholmes family moved away from their California home in 2002, persuaded by their immediate success, to pursue a career as a bluegrass family band in Nashville, Tenn.
"I was thinking, 'Just what they need out east, another family bluegrass band,'" Sandy said. "But we had a backup plan and decided to try it."
By 2005 the band had appeared on Grand Ole Opry, the Country Music Association's Music Fest and the International Bluegrass Music Association's FanFest. They also had self-released three albums, signed to Skaggs Family Records label, made their first national chart appearance and enjoyed national recognition as the IBMA's 2005 Entertainer of the Year.
The band has played in Japan, France and the United Kingdom and released two more albums under Skagg Family Records since 2005 -- each album enjoying greater success than the last.
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