Seeing Chris and Taylor Malpass on stage with their band in Denton at the Malpass Brothers Bluegrass and Country Music festival feels like a foray into time travel.
Chris’ coiffed and pomaded hair-do and on-stage twitches, back-kicks, and hip-pivots get the crowd going as much as Taylor’s contrasting deadpan expression, covert sibling mockery, and poly-professional swagger.
But with all their showmanship, the music is still center stage. Having toured with and opened for Merle Haggard for seven years, the still-relatively-young musicians have paid their dues to country music. And starting tonight, anyone with a television and the wherewithal to locate RFD-TV can slip back into the future with them, immediately following “HeeHaw.”
“We do it at Fort Forth, there at the Stockyards.” Taylor said, backstage in Denton, speaking of the television show.
“At the RFD TV studio there,” Chris added, as if the brothers were quite accustomed to completing each other’s thoughts.
Describing the show format, Chris said, “It’s a little bit like a Porter Wagoner show — maybe Marty Stuart. The only thing we do different is that we do a little bit of interview with the artist, because I think it makes it more personal.
“They get to talk about what they’ve been doing, and tell a story about a song, where it was recorded, and maybe a story behind what they’re going to do,” he said. “We sing one and we bring them on and do a little interview and they sing a couple of songs and we do a couple more and say Howdy and Farewell. Old-timey country show, really.”
The band has recorded 14 episodes so far, they said. The brothers started naming the featured guest artists. One brother begins with T. Graham Brown, Gene Watson, Jeff and Sherri Easter — and as he pauses for breath, the other chimes in with Mark Lowery, Moe Bandy, Brad Lee.
They keep up the friendly fire with Jimmy Fortune, Neal McCoy and Leona Williams. When they both pause to take mental inventory, the master of ceremonies for the festival chimes in from across the room: “Leroy” and that gets them going again with “Leroy Van Dyke, Tony Booth and Daryl McCall.”
Summing up the experience, Chris said, “We had a big, big, big time doing that. It’s been an honor. And we get to back up all the artists too. Some of them may bring a musician…like if they need a piano or something for a certain song, but our band is backing the guest artists, so it’s really cool to get to do.”
On Friday evening of the Denton festival the band plays the show’s theme song, “Remington Ride,” a rollicking, steel-guitar led instrumental by Herb Remington and Hank Penny. It’s right after “Okie from Muskogee” and “Working Man Blues” in the set.
A joke about having to pay off the suits occasionally works its way into their on-stage repartee. And understandably…the brothers wear some outfits that would make Porter Wagoner and Gram Parsons proud.
And the boots — Taylor has a pair embellished with the Louvin Brothers “Satan is Real” album cover. And of course they have a bevy of boots color-coordinated to match their bedazzled blazers.
But news of the brothers’ television show was not the only country celebrity gossip the duo shared that is of interest to eastern North Carolinians.
“I just went to Moore’s Barbecue in Winterville the other day,” Chris said. “I live in Snow Hill now.”
Taylor, who moved back to their hometown of Goldsboro, added. “We moved to Roxboro, but I tell you what — you just can’t beat home.”
Chris also mentioned that they would be participating in a ceremony, along with their longtime friend and mentor, Clyde Mattocks, to honor Jimmy Capps, dedicating part of I-40 to him. (The ceremony took place May 14.)
“They asked us to do a song and we decided to do ‘Put Me on the Trail to Carolina’ by the Delmore Brothers — which the Louvins did too — and we’re going to get Clyde to play Dobro with us. I’m really excited about that.”
Chris and Taylor played instruments originally owned by The Louvin Brothers for the event.
Referring to Clyde Mattocks, Chris said, “I hope they put him in the North Carolina Hall of Fame — I really do.”
As for Mattocks, it’s mutual admiration. When asked about his thoughts on the Malpass Brothers’ new show, he said, “Chris and Taylor chose their path celebrating traditional country music and its legends early on and have not veered from their vision. It has won them thousands of fans who see them as champions for a musical legacy that we do not need to lose.”
The first episode described by RFD-TV as “guaranteed to make you laugh and want to sing along to the sounds of the golden era of traditional country music” airs at 8 p.m. today. To find out where RFD-TV, known for its “family friendly programming,” is available for viewing, visit www.rfdtv.com/find-us-on-tv.
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