Free Rein Bluegrass Band
There’s a special relationship between people who grew up together. They went through rites of passage at the same time, and they have the same frame of reference from a similar upbringing. In the Appalachian Mountains of East Tennessee, Damon Seal, Daniel Oxendine, and Randall Woods grew up together. David Combs is from the same area.
“We all grew up together, and we played music together,” says Damon, “but when we grew up, we all joined different bands.” In 2002, Damon and Daniel got together to jam with Randall Woods. They reconnected instantly and decided the time was right to start a new band, Free Rein Bluegrass Band. “Daniel came up with the name,” says Damon. “It’s because we all have free rein to play the kind of music we like.”
Their musical journeys are similar. They all grew up playing in church, and they played with each other before moving on after graduating. Damon joined Bluegrass Gospel Band (later renamed MasterPeace). He toured the Southeast for 23 years as the band’s lead vocalist, guitar player, and banjo player before co-founding Free Rein in 2024.
Daniel was a founding member of a local Gospel group named Southern Strings (later renamed Shadow Ridge), formed in 1998. He stayed in the band through 2009, then went on the road with Jerry Butler and the Blu-J’s for a year and a half before playing upright bass for Crosspoint, a Rural Rhythm Bluegrass Gospel recording artist. In 2021, he went back to Shadow Ridge until co-founding Free Rein with Damon in 2024.
Randall played with his family band, The Woods Family, as a child. He later joined a well-known local band, Union Grass, where local legend Wade Hill played banjo.
David Combs rounds out the band on mandolin. His introduction to bluegrass came while listening to records with a friend. It was a 45 of Tony Rice playing “Me and My Guitar” that hooked David. His love of mandolin came during Sunday rides to church with his mom, listening to Paul Williams’s Victory Trio. As he got older, David played with local bluegrass bands until he had an opportunity to fill in on mandolin when Paul Williams fell and broke his wrist at the Bean Blossom Festival. He filled that spot for a couple of months while Williams healed, and now says that was the most influential time of his musical career. “My playing style changed, and I learned that melody is key.”
Cleve May, no longer with the band, played with Free Rein for a year and a half before leaving for family reasons. “Cleve was on every track of our first album.”
Free Rein is a high-energy band with dynamic musical arrangements. “We are all involved in the arrangements,” says Damon. “We collaborate a lot, playing off each other’s ideas.” The band is also spot-on with its tight harmonies.
With a strong foundation of growing up in church, Damon says he and Daniel’s first love is Gospel. “There is a heavy focus on bluegrass Gospel,” he says. But the band also covers classic bluegrass and country. The band members are influenced by a wide range of artists, from George Jones, Waylon Jennings, Tony Rice, J.D. Crowe, Larry Sparks, Earl Scruggs, and Eric Clapton. “We actually did a cover of Clapton’s ‘Wonderful Tonight.’ Stuart Wyrick wrote ‘Jesus Can Do Anything,’ and we asked if we could re-cut and put our spin on it. He agreed, and we did.”
In the end, Damon says the band members are all old-school traditionalists.
Their newest single, “Where Corn Don’t Grow,” was released last April. Daniel wrote the song when he was 19 years old, and it has been recorded by Waylon Jennings, Travis Tritt, and Riley Green in addition to Free Rein’s version.
Each member of the band has a job keeping things running smoothly. They also have day jobs outside of their music life. They have been playing local shows and a few festivals in Virginia, West Virginia, and Kentucky. “Our goal is to play twenty to thirty shows a year at great festivals and venues,” says Damon. “We love traveling together, and we are like brothers. We may bicker, but we always get along.”
Katie Penn is the band’s booking agent. “And we have to give a shoutout to Vivian Pennington Hoskins with IBMA. She took a liking to us, and she’s been so helpful.” Free Rein Bluegrass Band will play in an IBMA showcase October 21 in Chattanooga. “We hope everyone there will come and see us.”
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