The Parish Festival

?Original? and ?incomparable? are two adjectives some fans use to describe Parish Festival. One reason is that the band's ever-evolving style fuses disparate influences into a mix of indie rock, folk, and jazz. Guitarist, banjoist, and vocalist Jamey Cummins feels the use of banjo on half of the band's music is the ?most distinctive thing? about its sound ? in part because he doesn't play the instrument conventionally. ?It creates its own thing,? Cummins said. While most banjo players pick the instrument, Cummins approaches it as he would a regular guitar, which gives the band a unique sound.

Drummer Ryan Neubauer and bassist Andy Rappel make up the rest of Parish Festival, named after a yearly event at Cummins' Catholic grade school. For being together a little less than a year, Parish Festival has built quite a loyal fan base and looks to ?stay the track we're on? in terms of incorporating new genres into its sound, Cummins said.
-Jesse Virgil, RiverCities Reader