Cliff Wagner & The Old #7 had quite a run as contestants on the Next Great American Band program, which aired on Fox TV in 2007. They made it a good ways into the finals, as voted by the television audience, playing their quirky brand of rock-inflected bluegrass music.

Cliff and the boys released a new CD, Hobo’s Lullabye, in 2008, and have now produced a music video for one of the tracks. Castleneck tells the story of man who went over to the dark side and lived a life of crime, only to eventually meet his end by his own hand.

The video was a total inside job, filmed by Old #7 bass player Lucas Cheadle. Cliff built the sets, with Old #7 drummer Steve Mugalian, mandolinist Devitt Feeley, guitarist Craig Ferguson – plus friends and family members – making up the cast.

Cliff relates how they almost made the news during the shoot…

“A cop from the L.A. bomb squad drove past Steve’s house while we were filming the murder scene. He thought it was real and called it in wondering how the press got there before the cops.

Then he walked over to us realizing what was going on. We all had a good (but nervous) laugh about it.

Before he walked away he shook my hand hard and said, ‘you know I could really mess with you right now, don’t you?’

I said ‘yup,’ then he smiled, got in his SUV and drove away.”

You can watch the video on the official band web site, and see the grisly tale of Castleneck, named for his first jailhouse tattoo.

When the Fox TV show Next Great American Band was airing in late 2007, we covered the show each week. Right from the first episode, there were two bluegrass/acoustic acts in the running for this American Idol-style competition, and Casey Henry provided us with updates on how they fared in the audience voting after each show.

Though The Clark Brothers won the title – and we celebrated them doing so as a primarily acoustic string trio with bluegrass roots – it was Cliff Wagner & Old #7 that captured the interest of bluegrassers. They performed throughout as a five piece bluegrass band and entertained the judges and the audience with their humor and good natured efforts to fit with the more pop-oriented structure of the show’s music.

Wagner and crew made it through week 5 before being dropped by viewer votes, but built a sizable following online in the process.

Cliff plays banjo and fiddle and sings lead, Craig Ferguson is on guitar, mandolin and resonator guitar, Devitt Feeley is on mandolin and vocals, Lucas Cheadle plays bass and Stephen Mugalian is on drums.

We had a chance to interview Cliff recently about their appearance on NGAB, and how it may affect them as a band going forward.

What led you to enter the Fox competition?

“I was watching American Idol and they advertised the show with an address to send in a video of your band. I had a video that my bass player had made and we sent it in as sort of a joke. That video put us in the top 60 out of 8,000. Once they flew us out to Vegas for the audition we figured out it wasn’t a joke anymore.”

Had your band been together long?

“I’ve had this band going with different line-ups for about 6 years. Devitt and Craig have been with me for about a year. Steve and Lucas joined when we started the show. My original bass player didn’t have the time to participate in the show, and my original drummer went to the audition but later decided he didn’t want to do the show. Enter Steve and Lucas.”

How did you and the guys react when you learned that you had been selected?

“Sort of.. ‘uh oh, now we did it.’ We were nervous about being on TV and how we might be portrayed. Plus it was a big time commitment. All of our lives stopped for about three months.” (more…)

This report comes from Casey Henry, a banjo player and writer living in Nashville, TN. She performed the past few years with her brother, Chris, in The Two Stringers, now disbanded.

The Clark Brothers delivered another truly outstanding performance on last night’s Next Great American Band. Their version of Rod Stewart’s You’re In My Heart was a stripped-down, acoustic beauty. They sat on stools with Ashley on guitar, Adam on mando, and Austin on dobro and harmony vocals. Their moving, sensitive performance judge brought Sheila E to tears. She literally couldn’t say anything after hearing them play. John Rzeznik said, "I’m really moved. You guys take a song and attach all the emotion to it." A song like that will, "make guys hate you and make women love you." And Dicko added, "You brought something magical. You always do."

We got to see a little segment of the boys talking about their musical influences. What they said sounded so familiar to me, and probably to anyone else who grew up in a bluegrass family. Ashley said he didn’t hear the Beatles until he was sixteen and was surprised to find that they were really good, since his dad had always dismissed them for not having a banjo. Austin said the first time he saw Jerry Douglas play he bought every one of his CDs, even though he didn’t have a CD player at the time! There were a couple of clips of the Clark Family playing, with all the other brothers and their dad, when the boys were younger. They looked so familiar to me because that’s what they looked like back when we used to play at some of the same bluegrass festivals.

I think the Clarks have a good chance of moving on to next week. I just hope all the people who are voting agree! You can watch Cliff Wagner and the Old #7’s final performance online now, as well as all the other bands songs.

This report comes from Casey Henry, a banjo player and writer living in Nashville, TN. She performed the past few years with her brother, Chris, in The Two Stringers, now disbanded.

Bluegrass got the boot last night when Cliff Wagner and the Old #7 got voted off Next Great American Band. The Clark Brothers made it into the top six, though, delivering a standout performance of the Rolling Stones’ Gimmie Shelter.

Everyone seemed disappointed to see Cliff and the band go. The judges had some parting words, all on a positive note. John Rzeznik said that he really appreciated their sense of humor and the chemistry between the band members. Sheila E. deemed them "so real, so genuine," and said "we love you very much." Dicko praised them for "bringing some real variety" to the show and asked what their plans for the future are. Cliff eloquently said that they’ve gotten "new inspiration" from being on the show and have expanded musically from where they were before. They are now able to play more "outside the box."

Cliff said, to the television audience, "Thanks to everyone who voted. We had a great time on the show," and he wished, "good luck to all the other bands." And even the final band to play, Dot Dot Dot, said as they took the stage, "We love you, Cliff Wagner!"

The NGAB site now features Cliff’s Green Room acoustic performance. Hopefully, even though he didn’t win the show, this national exposure will benefit Cliff’s career and help keep his playing schedule full for years to come. Maybe they’ll add their take on Brown Sugar that we didn’t get to hear to their shows‚Ķ

The Clarks version of Gimmie Shelter was stunning. They started out sparse and low and built up the tension. By the end, according to Dicko, they’d "turned it into a blind panic." Ashley’s singing continued to impress, Austin rocked on a black, flying-V electric dobro, and Adam even got a short mandolin solo. All three judges gave them a standing ovation and Sheila deemed them "the band to beat."

Be sure to tune in next week bands tackle the Rod Stewart catalog. You can watch all the past weeks’ performances on the NGAB site.