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Yo Mama’s Big Fat Booty Band Brings the Funk to Beech Mountain on Saturday, Feb. 6

Booty
Yo Mama’s Big Fat Booty Band
Booty
Yo Mama’s Big Fat Booty Band/bootyband.com

By Bailey Faulkner

Can you dig some funk on a mountain? Asheville-based funk stars Yo Mama’s Big Fat Booty Band will lay down the grooves at Beech Mountain Resort on Saturday, Feb. 6 at 8 p.m.

As if funk isn’t enough to draw crowds, the show will be totally free to the public. Even better, the show is open to all ages, so everyone can feel the funk.

Yo Mama’s Big Fat Booty Band is one of the most well known names in music in the High Country. Over the years, the band has developed an intimate relationship with the Boone area.

Each member of the band always excites audiences. The group is comprised of the energetic:

Al Al Ingram (bass, vocals)

Mary “Mama Funk” Frances (keyboards, vocals)

JP Miller (guitar, vocals)

Derrick Johnson (trombone, vocals)

Lee Allen (drums)

Yo Mama’s Big Fat Booty Band

Formed in Boone in 2002, the band has quickly climbed to the top of today’s nationwide funk scene. Heavily rooted in classic funk, the band has been honored to share the stage with many of its heroes, most notably Parliament-Funkadelic, the Dirty Dozen Brass Band and Bootsy Collins.

A musical experience rather than simply a band,” the Booty Band is currently in high demand at music festivals across the nation. The band has made appearances at Wakarusa, Bear Creek, Floyd Fest and Camp Barefoot and many other festivals.

In 2015, the Booty Band continued its “exploration of past, present and future funk sounds” with its most recent studio release, Funk Life.

Funk Life, the band’s fourth album, was recorded at Asheville’s Echo Mountain Studios.

The new album proves that the Booty Band consistently embodies the mindset that “funk is more than a musical genre; it’s a way of life.”

The band had the unique opportunity of working with engineer Julian Dreyer on its new album. Dreyer has engineered albums for several nationally-recognized acts such as Band of Horses, The Avett Brothers and the Zac Brown Band.

Modern, yet rooted in time-tested funk, the album solidifies the band’s classic style while also showing the group’s musical growth since its last release. Fans will most easily recognize the album’s new sounds and techniques in the horn section.

The Booty Band’s funk lifestyle not only allows the members to do what they love, but also gives audiences a funk experience that cannot be easily forgotten.

“When you walk away from a show, you want to remember something,” Mama Funk said on the band’s website.

The band’s shows certainly give audiences something to remember.

“During a Booty Band show you might find band members in the crowd, on top of a bar, and definitely in yo face,” the band’s website says.

Beech Mountain

Saturday’s show will surely live up to the High Country’s expectations for the Booty Band.

“I think we will have a great crowd. There is no cover, so that will be nice for our patrons,” Talia Freeman, director of marketing at Beech Mountain, said.

Saturday’s show won’t be the first time that the band has jammed out at Beech Mountain, where they played just a few years ago.

“They are always fantastic and very professional,” Freeman said.

The band is excited to return to the High Country. While the original wave of Booty Band fans from the member’s college days has dispersed, the band has been happy to see large crowds of next-generation, loyal funk lovers at each of their shows in the area.

“We always love playing in the Boone area. It brings back a lot of memories,” guitarist JP Miller said.

Even more exciting for fans, the band is likely to break out some new material at Beech on Saturday.

“We’ve worked out a cool P-Funk tribute set. I’m sure we’ll bust out some of those songs,” Miller said.

With years of nonstop recording and touring momentum, the band is now exploring ideas for the future. With growing support outside of the U.S., the band is even considering its first European tour in the years to come.

Beech Mountain will give fans the chance to catch more than just music. If you plan to go on Saturday before the show, check out the Beech Tree Bar and Grille, the 5506’ Skybar and the resort’s brand new tubing facility. Conveniently, there will be a 6–8 p.m. tubing session on Saturday.

Red Bull will also bring DJs to Beech Mountain on Saturday. The DJs will perform on the skybar’s deck and in the village from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Beech Mountain is also offering group skiing and snowboarding rates for college students. A valid college ID is needed for group rates.

There will also be a cornhole tournament in the village at 2 p.m. on Saturday. Contestants will compete for the chance to win a shot ski.

The Booty Band will begin playing at 8 p.m. at the Beech Tree Bar and Grill and will wrap up its set at around 11 p.m.

Make sure to mark your calendars for Saturday, Feb. 6 so you won’t miss a day and night full of skiing, snowboarding, food and drinks and some of the grooviest funk the High Country has to offer!