Local Spins spotlights the 15-year-old Rockford bluegrass maven who’s turning heads and who joins mandolin whiz Oberlin and friends at SpeakEZ Lounge tonight. Plus, listen to this week’s radio show podcast.
Dynamic Pairing: Brian Oberlin, at left, with Peter Cavanaugh, who perform at SpeakEZ Lounge tonight. (Photo/Anna Sink)
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Brian Oberlin remembers being so enamored of the mandolin as a young musician that he actually fell asleep with the instrument in bed.
“You live and breathe it, and you don’t even have to try. It just happens,” he recalled. “It’s something that you can’t help.”
So, the accomplished Grand Rapids mandolinist and member of the band Full Cord can relate to the fixation and fascination that 15-year-old Rockford guitarist Peter Cavanaugh has had with his own stringed treasure and the wonders of bluegrass music.
Since learning a Billy Strings tune to impress his godfather, Len Rinke, Cavanaugh has become fully immersed in bluegrass, performing regularly at jams hosted by Oberlin at Chicago Beef Joint in Grand Rapids, playing duo gigs with the mandolinist and joining an all-star band that performs at 7:30 tonight (Jan. 9) at SpeakEZ Lounge as part of a special “Winter Wheat Warm-Up” show.
Cavanaugh: A devotee of daily guitar playing and regular jamming with other musicians. (Photo/Anna Sink)
“Playing through it (the Billy Strings song), I was having a bunch of fun,” recalled Cavanaugh, who embraced bluegrass after first reveling in the music of guitarists such as Stevie Ray Vaughan, Angus Young (AC/DC) and Billy Gibbons (ZZ Top). “So, I never really stopped and that was about a year ago. … Bluegrass really was my first opportunity just to pick with like-minded people. Playing live is just a blast for me.”
Of course, not every musician rises to the same level, as passionate as they might be.
“I just heard one chord and I was like, ‘Oh man, this kid’s got it,’ ” Oberlin said of hearing Cavanaugh play for the first time at a Wednesday jam session last spring. He said he decided to “let this simmer” for a time while testing the young guitarist’s mettle with various notes and riffs.
“I was like, ‘Yup, he’s got the bug,’ ” Oberlin recounted. “So, we’ve become friends and pickers and we’re playing music together.”
Those performances already have enchanted audiences in the Grand Rapids area, with both listeners and musicians smitten by Cavanaugh’s well-beyond-his-years talent paired with Oberlin’s own experienced and gifted playing.
VIDEO: Brian Oberlin & Peter Cavanaugh, “Way Downtown” (Local Spins Live)
BRIAN OBERLIN & FRIENDS, WITH PETER CAVANAUGH, PERFORMING TONIGHT
Tonight (Jan. 9) – in a nod to Saturday’s Winter Wheat festival with more than 10 bands playing two stages at The Intersection – Oberlin (a Winter Wheat veteran) will be joined at SpeakEZ Lounge by Cavanaugh, Sallie Bacon from country swing band Sweet Dee & The Wild Honeys and Full Cord bandmates Todd Kirchner and Eric Langejans. The show starts at 7:30 p.m.; details here. Singer-songwriter Josh Rose from the Wheatland Music Organization also will be on hand to chat about Saturday’s Winter Wheat celebration. (More about Winter Wheat and the full schedule here.)
There’s already talk of Oberlin — a music teacher, conductor of the Michigan Mandolin Orchestra and a musician with more than 20 studio albums to his credit — helping Cavanaugh assemble a band of musicians for a studio recording in the future. The young guitarist also plans to help light up Rockford Brewing Co. in Rockford on Feb. 28 as part of a newly organized acoustic band featuring three other talented teens – Wyatt Tennant (banjo), Ezra Tennant (mandolin) and Fern Vredevoogd (bass).
On Stage: Cavanaugh returns to Rockford Brewing on Feb. 28. (Photo/Anna Sink)
“They are some great pickers,” insisted Cavanaugh, a sophomore at West Catholic High School. “I’m very impressed with their playing every time. They just blow me away.”
Of course, even as a teen, Cavanaugh already has his sights set on a potential career in music: “I always love the idea of playing for people and them loving what I play.”
For this week’s edition of the Michigan Music Showcase, Cavanaugh and Oberlin performed two songs live upstairs at Rockford Brewing for an exclusive Local Spins session: “Way Downtown” (video above) and “Big Sciota” (video below).
Listen to the full interview in the Michigan Music Showcase podcast that also features fresh tracks by Chirp, King Ink, The Schrock Bros, The Wild Honey Collective, Hand of Giants, Ghost Bunnies, Cameron Blake, Michael Dease and The Aquaerials.
Oberlin, by the way, hosts Wednesday night bluegrass jams at Chicago Beef Joint in Grand Rapids and has started performing with the Brian Oberlin Band and special guests on Thursday evenings at Testa Rossa Italian Restorante, also in Grand Rapids.
PODCAST: Michigan Music Showcase (1/9/26)
VIDEO: Brian Oberlin & Peter Cavanaugh, “Big Sciota” (Local Spins Live)
PHOTO GALLERY: Brian Oberlin & Peter Cavanaugh at Rockford Brewing
Photos by Anna Sink
