the Daily News
Beach Bar is a Favorite of Locals

Sunday, October 1, 2006

It's where barefoot hippies meet Burberry-clad yuppies, biker babes hang with beach bums and haute cuisine is served with a side of bluegrass. For years, this one-time general store and current Picolo's Restaurant and Red Bar have anchored the Panhandle artist's enclave and celebrity hide-away of Grayton Beach.

The Red Bar is best known for its crab cakes ... its funky decor and its live music. read more>>

Nite Times
Dread Clampitt

April 2004 by Shirley Courson

Dread Clampitt is making waves in Grayton Beach. The 'hipbilly" band has a unique sound all its own. "It's sort of bluegrass," explains guitarist Kyle Ogle. "But it rocks a little bit more and swings a little bit more than bluegrass. It kind of has a funk and R&B feel."

In other words, you have to hear it to understand. The four-piece group plays at The Red Bar twice on Sundays and in the evenings on Monday. read more>>

South Walton Life
Defying Definition

Spring 2004 by Alex McRae

Even the musicians behind the popular Dread Clampitt band struggle to put a label on their eclectic concoction.

The cast is right, but the plot is all wrong. Instead of the hot, new, up-and-coming band searching desperately for a label, it's one of their fans. On the front patio of the Funky Blues Shack in Destin, a young woman chatters excitedly into her cell phone. "C'mon down," she pleads. "It's Dread Clampitt! They're great" read more>>

the Daily News
Band Does Namesake Right Proud

July 2003 by Cal Powell

It's appropriate that the first time I heard Dread Clampitt play a song was the same day I heard Buddy Ebsen died out in California. Ebsen, known to me and millions of others as laid-back patriarch Jed Clampitt from "The Beverly Hillbillies," was 95 years old when he passed away on Sunday, leaving behind a hundred black-and-white memories and probably a good dog or two.
"We're going to dedicate this show to Jed," mandolin player Balder Saunders said. read more>>

the Beachcomber
Dread Clampitt's 'Hillbillly Newgrass' Narrows the Generation Gap

Jan 2-15, 2003 by Chris Manson

Check out the extremely diverse crowd at Destin's Funky Blues Shack on Friday nights and you might suspect that a Top 40 band is playing. Stick around for the sounds of Dread Clampitt and you'll hear something completely different.
Dread Clampitt's Balder Saunders (mandolin, vocals) describes his trio's sound as "hipbilly - which takes roots music in bluegrass format and gives it an original spin." Kyle Ogle (guitar, vocals) says their music is "heartfelt and honest music that frees you." read more>>