About The Groove

For booking call (336)454-5681

THE GROOVE is an old school rock band from the south that believes in the recipe of guitar driven, drum pounding, organ drenched rock and roll, deeply rooted, steeped in tradition, with simple melodies, big harmonies, and mysterious, poignant lyrics.

The Groove have a vision for making current vibrant rock music that sounds the way rock and roll used to sound.

Rich Lerner and The Groove embark on a new musical journey with the decision to convert the band’s rehearsal space to a recording studio and self-produce an album of Bob Dylan covers. Jason Flegel was brought in on keyboards for this project and soon began performing with the band as well.

COVER DOWN by Rich Lerner and The Groove is the first release on Free The Music Records. The Web site is launched. COVER DOWN gets radio airplay on over 100 stations.

Earl Austin begins performing with The Groove on organ and piano. The chemistry between these five musicians has made for some fiery performances with an emphasis on improvisation, dynamics, variety and passionate playing. Work begins on recording new original songs.

VANISHING MOON by The Groove, the second release on Free The Music records gets radio airplay on over 85 stations across the USA and Canada. Bob Sykes is added to the line up on guitar and Craig Pannell returns to the band on keyboards and vocals. The Groove participated in Daniel Pearl Music Day with a performance at the Rhinoceros Club.

The new expanded big band line up of Lerner, Talley, Seawell, Smith, Sykes and Pannell continue to gig regularly around the triad. The sound is fuller and the shows just keep getting hotter.

These years saw lots more gigs and a new recording project. “Greetings from Groovesboro” released December 2008 is the third official release from Free The Music. Terry Vun Cannon on lap steel and guitar becomes an honorary and part time member of the band by rehearsing, jamming, recording and gigging with us whenever  possible.

Multi-instrumentalist Steve Taub joins the band in the keyboard slot. Steve’s talent brings a new dynamic to the group with his ability to solo fluidly and provide multiple sounds and textures to our existing repertoire. Free The Music partners with Fresh Productions to expand our online presence and promote the brand. The Flatiron becomes a regular spot for The Groove to perform with very enthusiastic crowds at all our gigs. The Groove also dusts off some unfinished rhythm tracks recorded in 2002 and discover nearly a whole album’s worth of potential new songs to develop, many in a reggae style. Stay tuned for more shows and more recordings to come.