Bluegrass grew on them, so family formed a band

"If you feel it, you have a better chance of learning how to play it, and we listened to it day and night," Sandy Lee Cherryholmes says of how she and her husband, Jere, got their children (from left) Skip, Molly Kate, B.J., and Cia Leigh into bluegrass music.

Call it extreme family-bonding. Upon returning from a bluegrass festival in 1999, Sandy Lee and Jere Cherryholmes told their four youngest kids they were forming a band. They bought all the instruments and assigned two kids to fiddle, one to banjo, and one to the guitar. Dad would take the upright bass, and Mom the mandolin. Mom and the kids would practice every day, and, after Dad came home from work, all would play together at night.

So it began with Cherryholmes, one of bluegrass' most talked-about acts, which plays at Sanders Theatre Sunday afternoon. The impossibly folksy surname might have given them a boost, as might the fact that Mom, a former church pianist with 15 years of orchestra training under her belt, was home-schooling the kids and could make music a priority. But there's little logic in the prodigal talents of children Cia Leigh, 23; B.J., 19; Skip, 18; and Molly Kate, 15. Three of them had never even picked up an instrument before they got their marching orders.

In nine short years, the California family has amassed some hefty credentials. They were given the entertainer of the year honor at the 2005 International Bluegrass Music Awards, upsetting such luminaries as Alison Krauss and the Del McCoury Band. Both of their commercially released albums, 2005's "Cherryholmes" and last June's "Cherryholmes II: Black and White," earned Grammy nominations. They've performed around the world and are regulars at the Grand Ole Opry.

"We feel so very lucky, so blessed," Sandy Lee Cherryholmes says from Goodlettsville, Tenn., from the bus that serves as the family's home. "We certainly didn't expect this when we started out."

What the family was looking for, she says, was a way to heal after her oldest daughter, Shelly, died from a heart ailment. It was a month after Shelly's death that the family drove out to the annual Huck Finn Jubilee in Victorville, Calif. Though they had not listened to much bluegrass before, something about the music struck a chord. From then on, Sandy Lee and Jere filled the house with the songs of the Stanley Brothers, Flatt & Scruggs, and Hazel Dickens.

"We didn't watch TV, and we didn't have computers," Sandy Lee recalls. "We purged our CD collection of anything but bluegrass. If you feel it, you have a better chance of learning how to play it, and we listened to it day and night."

A few months after their family jam began, Cherryholmes auditioned for and won a gig at a resort in San Bernardino, where they would play for the next three years during apple-picking season. During that time, the band honed its skills, entering contests and festivals and eventually self-producing two albums, "Still a Little Rough Around the Edges" in 2001 and "Dressed for Success" in 2002.

It wasn't long before established bluegrass acts began to take notice. A song that then-10-year-old Molly Kate composed as a homework assignment grabbed the attention of singer Rhonda Vincent, who included the tune on her 2003 album "One Step Ahead." Vincent also introduced the band to her brother, Darrin Vincent, who at the time was Ricky Skaggs's guitarist in Kentucky Thunder. Darrin produced Cherryholmes's 2003 album, "Bluegrass Vagabonds."

"They had everything a bluegrass band could want: twin fiddles, great harmonies, they just had it all," Darrin Vincent says. "I think at first, it was a novelty that they were a family group. But they've matured as they've gotten older, and they play way above the mark. They're definitely a cut above the rest."

Vincent was so impressed that he recommended the band to Skaggs, who runs his own record label. "Cherryholmes" and "Cherryholmes II: Black and White" were released on Skaggs Family Records, and the band is now working on its third CD for the label.

Maintaining cohesion and such high musical standards has come through discipline, a tough work ethic, and an unambiguous family structure. Though Sandy Lee is sometimes the family's spokesperson, Jere serves as the band's manger and ultimately calls the shots. "In any team, there has to be a leader," Sandy Lee says. "Jere makes the decisions on what is and what isn't, but within that, he's allowed all of us to throw creative ideas into the pot."

Everyone writes songs that the family tries out, and members switch off on lead vocals. Cia Leigh, who has emerged as the band's principal singer and songwriter, has garnered comparisons to Rhonda Vincent and was nominated in the songwriting and contemporary female vocalist categories of this year's Society for the Preservation of Bluegrass Music of America awards. Though Cherryholmes functions remarkably well as a creative unit, the collaboration isn't always so seamless. "Egos take a beating," Sandy Lee admits.

As for the supremely talented youngsters charged with mastering a style of music unknown to many of their peers, digging into the past has been rewarding, Skip Cherryholmes says.

"People can miss out by limiting themselves to the popular trends," he says, acknowledging that his wide-ranging musical tastes also run to Sting, Josh Groban, Beyoncé, and Alicia Keys. "It's not a bad thing to reach back into the roots of American music. Listening to singers like Bill Monroe, Lester Flatt, and Earl Scruggs has given us a broader mind for creating our own music, for creating the best music that we can."