After hearing Deep River sing one of their own compositions, ‘Remember Always’, live on the Bell Buckle (Tennessee) Jamboree Radio Show, local resident Charlie Louvin of Louvin Brothers fame told the country vocal group, “I’d like to hear y’all play that song on the Opry.” Although they haven’t yet had that opportunity, Deep River has sung with Country Music Hall of Famer Vince Gill, as well as opened for country star Mark Wills and the ‘First Lady of Bluegrass’, Wilma Lee Cooper.
Founding members Sandy Howard and Sharon Lewis have been performing together since April 1993 in Nashville, Tennessee, and the current line-up made its Asheville, North Carolina debut in August 2007. Since then Sharon (vocals and bass guitar) Sandy (vocals and acoustic guitar) Gerry Brown (pedal steel/dobro/acoustic guitar) and Rich Hendricks (lead guitar/acoustic guitar) with vocalist Joan D’Entremont and drummer Justin Watt have played at The Grove Park Inn, Barleys, The Back Room at the Flat Rock Wine Shoppe, The Purple Onion, Feed & Seed, Tupelo Honey Café, the WNC Mountain State Fair as guests of KISS Country 99.9 and the Saluda Arts & Music Festival as guests of the King Pup Radio Show, not to mention numerous private parties and charitable benefits.
While in Nashville, Sandy and Sharon recorded three CDs, wrote or co-wrote eight songs, two of which, ‘Civil War’ and ‘Silver Eagle’, received ‘honorable mention’ from Music Row magazine’s Robert K. Oermann, and one of those, ‘Silver Eagle’, received a little radio airplay on small market country stations around the US.
The name ‘Deep River’ conjures up thoughts about the natural circle of life, and that’s exactly how one might describe their music—stories of love and loss told in the context of family-style harmonies and danceable rhythms for kids of all ages.
Musical influences include Patty Loveless, Kathy Mattea, Pam Tillis, Trio aka Linda Ronstadt, Emmylou Harris and Dolly Parton, Rhonda Vincent and The Rage, The Cox Family, The Eagles, The Beatles and Highway 101.