Red Light Rodeo has been spreading their innovative take on country, bluegrass and traditional music in your favorite barrooms, music festivals, and listening rooms around Virginia and the mid-Atlantic region since early 2012. The Rodeo mixes age old words and melodies with the raw rock and roll energy of hard-edged country and honky-tonk to create original music and traditional renderings that keeps their fan base coming back for more.
Wes Canter leads the band with his tobacco stained crooning and heavy-hitting rhythm guitar. Zach Hudgins brings masterfully delivered thumping standup bass with floor rattling solos and sings high harmony vocals. Zack Miller works double duty playing blistering leads on both mandolin and fiddle (sometimes in the same song!) all while singing middle and bass harmonies. Together their musical backgrounds cover the gambit from classic country music to British whaling ballads, early 20th century swing, gospel, funk, and of course, traditional old-time Appalachian music.
At their core Red Light Rodeo has been called a “bluegrass power trio” but the band believes the music they play could more aptly be described as "honkgrass" since even their bluegrass and folk music is tinged heavily with a country sound and feel.
Red Light Rodeo also frequently performs as a 5-piece with the Rodeo All-Stars, bringing veteran heavyweight Richmond musicians Jake Sellers (washboard/drums) and Kent South (electric guitar/lap steel) onto the stage.
The Rodeo released their first 5 song EP, Nothing But the Nuts, in June of 2014 and released a vinyl 7" single in fall of 2015 and will enter the studio to begin recording their first full length album in the Spring or 2016.
