(lively music) (birds chirping) - We're in Shelby, North Carolina, near the home place of the legendary banjo player Earl Scruggs.

And this is the Earl Scruggs Center.

We're here to visit with Darin and Brooke Aldridge, two major talents from the area who were drawn together by the power of the music.

and playing with them is my old friend John Cowan, one of the great singers across several musical styles.

- [John] Two, three, four.

("Callin' Baton Rouge") ♪ I spent last night in the arms of a girl from Louisiana ♪ ♪ Though I'm out on the highway ♪ ♪ My thoughts are still with her ♪ ♪ Such a strange combination of a woman and a child ♪ ♪ Strange situations stoppin' every 20 miles ♪ ♪ Callin' Baton Rouge ♪ ♪ A replay of events last night goes through my mind ♪ ♪ Except for a scene or two erased by sweet red wine ♪ ♪ I see a truck stop sign ahead, so I change lanes ♪ ♪ I need a cup of coffee and a couple dollars in change ♪ ♪ Callin' Baton Rouge ♪ ♪ Operator, won't you put me on through ♪ ♪ I gotta send my love down to Baton Rouge ♪ ♪ Hurry up, won't you put her on the line ♪ ♪ I gotta talk to the girl just one more time ♪ ♪ Hello, Samantha dear, I hope you're feelin' fine ♪ ♪ It won't be long until I'm with you all the time ♪ ♪ But until then ♪ ♪ I'll spend my money up right down to my last dime ♪ ♪ Oh oh oh ♪ ♪ In Baton Rouge ♪ ♪ Operator, won't you put me on through ♪ ♪ I gotta send my love down to Baton Rouge ♪ ♪ Hurry up, won't you put her on the line ♪ ♪ I gotta talk to the girl just one more time ♪ ♪ Callin' Baton Rouge ♪ ♪ My Baton Rouge ♪ ♪ Sweet Baton Rouge ♪ ♪ Oh oh oh ♪ ("When You Love Someone") ♪ When you love someone ♪ ♪ You'll do anything ♪ ♪ You'll do all the crazy things ♪ ♪ That you can't explain ♪ ♪ You'll shoot the moon ♪ ♪ Put out the sun ♪ ♪ When you love someone ♪ ♪ You'll deny the truth ♪ ♪ Believe a lie ♪ ♪ There'll be times that you'll believe ♪ ♪ You could really fly ♪ ♪ But your lonely nights ♪ ♪ Have just begun ♪ ♪ When you love someone ♪ ♪ When you love someone ♪ ♪ You'll feel it deep inside ♪ ♪ And nothing else could ever change your mind ♪ ♪ When you want someone ♪ ♪ When you need someone ♪ ♪ When you love someone ♪ ♪ When you love someone ♪ ♪ You'll sacrifice ♪ ♪ You'd give it everything you got ♪ ♪ And you won't think twice ♪ ♪ You'd risk it all no matter what may come ♪ ♪ When you love someone, yeah ♪ ♪ You'll shoot the moon ♪ ♪ Put out the sun ♪ ♪ When you love someone ♪ - You both grew up right around here around Shelby, North Carolina and Western North Carolina.

Was there a lot of music when you were growing up in this part of the world?

- Absolutely.

For me it was picking at the bomb shelters and cabins and local jams around and-- - Bomb shelters?

- Yeah!

Over Cherryville we've got a local bomb shelter there that been having music since the '70s.

- [David] What a great use for a bomb shelter.

- Absolutely.

And in the summertime we'd move out and have a cabin out there and a little stage and a lot of local pickers would come around.

It's been a gathering place for musicians around Cleveland County for years.

I started playing there when I was about 16-years-old.

- Wow.

- All the good local musicians would gather and jam on Wednesday nights, you know?

- And what probably a lot of folks listening to this don't realize is that we have this all over the Southern Mountains and these are not people that are professionals necessarily but they're really good.

- Absolutely.

- And they get together on weekends and pick and it's a great way for young people to learn.

- It's kinda like the best kept secrets, you know, are in these small towns that a lot of people don't know about.

I grew up in Avery County not too far from here and really singing in church with my mom and sisters, that's just kind of how I grew up.

We would go to my grandmother's house every Sunday for dinner and then we would just kinda sit around and sing hymns, acapella, nobody really played a whole lot in my family, so just to sing and sing out loud was kind of a thing, we didn't have mics or anything set up like that.

- In harmony?

- Oh absolutely, yeah, the harmonies were always so much fun.

I mean, aunts, uncles, my parents and sisters, cousins, you know, so that was really kinda how I got my start singing, yeah.

- When did you realize that I've got a gift here that I'm with this voice?

- Hm, I did my first talent competition, they used to have a talent show that was countywide and I was in that and then they started putting me in singing competitions just regionally.

And so I probably won over 30 competitions as a kid, won scholarships-- - Wow.

- And things for college.

- We should mention here that you won the last two years in a row, the Female Vocalist of the Year for the International Bluegrass Musicians Association which is a super honor 'cause you're competing against some really great people.

- Yes, amazing ladies that I've always looked up to and admired in this business, Rhonda Vincent, Dale Ann Bradley, Claire Lynch, Sierra Hull and Molly Tuttle were in that category one year when I was in it as well.

And so, you know, women that are just amazing in their own right and I'm very honored, I never thought I would win it once so to take it home twice was quite an honor.

- It's really great.

- To be recognized for doing something you love so much, so.

- She's always been my female vocalist.

- He's a little partial.

- Tell us about the song you're singing "I Found Love."

- It was on our first Rounder recording project that we did and just listening to my iPod one day this song popped up and it was called "I Found Love" and thought it was a great tune for both to sing as a duet and it was later that we found that Randy Scruggs had written the song with Earl and Vince Gill.

And I've always been a fan of all those guys, especially Vince and Earl and it was a great tune for the record.

- Absolutely.

- Great tune for here.

- Absolutely.

("I Found Love") ♪ I was swimming in a river of darkness ♪ ♪ Feel the waters rushing over my head ♪ ♪ Like an angel, you were there to save me ♪ ♪ Just one touch of your gentle hand ♪ ♪ Since I found you I can climb a mountain ♪ ♪ Since I found you I can swim the tide ♪ ♪ You brought me life, you showed me heaven ♪ ♪ I found love when I found you ♪ ♪ There were walls standing all around me ♪ ♪ Thought I'd never see the walls come down ♪ ♪ But like a miracle, my eyes were opened ♪ ♪ My prayer was answered when you came around ♪ ♪ Since I found you I can climb a mountain ♪ ♪ Since I found you I can swim the tide ♪ ♪ You brought me life, you showed me heaven ♪ ♪ I found love when I found you ♪ ♪ When we look back on our life's journey ♪ ♪ Lines on our faces will show the miles ♪ ♪ We'll share the memories, give God the glory ♪ ♪ I can hear your laughter and see you smile ♪ ♪ Since I found you I can climb a mountain ♪ ♪ Since I found you I can swim the tide ♪ ♪ You brought me life, you showed me heaven ♪ ♪ I found love ♪ ♪ I found love ♪ ♪ Yeah, I found love when I found you ♪ - So we're here at the Earl Scruggs Center and Darin, you had a lot to do with designing some of the exhibits.

- I did, I was part of the Common Threads Table, that's a big iPad that the kids get to come in and get to play on the screen, get to hear a lot of different music and I was also part of the three-finger, two-finger roll that you can actually slow down or speed up and see actually how the Scruggs style-- - How the banjo works.

- Come to be.

- Such a great museum.

Brooke, what advice would you give to a couple who thought they might like to go out on the road and make a living playing music?

- Well, there's nothing better than traveling with your spouse, I don't think and I wouldn't have it any other way.

So if you're interested in that, you should definitely go for it.

You know, set goals, don't be afraid to set goals that are high, I feel like that's what we did.

And you know, we've just been blessed to attain those, we've worked hard, get to know as many people as you can, it's all about those connections and getting to know folks, so.

- Sing and perform the music that you love.

- That's right.

("Take Me To The Alley") ♪ Well, they guild their houses ♪ ♪ in preparation for the King ♪ ♪ And they line the sidewalks ♪ ♪ With every bright and shiny thing ♪ ♪ They will be surprised ♪ ♪ When they hear him say ♪ ♪ Take me to the alley ♪ ♪ Take me to the afflicted ones ♪ ♪ Take me to the lonely ones ♪ ♪ That somehow lost their way ♪ ♪ Let them hear him say ♪ ♪ I am your friend ♪ ♪ Come sit at my table ♪ ♪ And rest here in my garden ♪ ♪ You will have a pardon ♪ ♪ You will have a pardon ♪ ♪ They will be surprised ♪ ♪ When they hear him say ♪ ♪ Take me to the alley ♪ ♪ Take me to the addicted ones ♪ ♪ Take me to the lonely ones that somehow lost their way ♪ ♪ Let us hear him say ♪ ♪ He is our friend ♪ ♪ We'll sit at his table ♪ ♪ Rest here in his garden ♪ ♪ We will have a pardon ♪ ♪ We will have a pardon ♪ ♪ Take me to the alley, take me to the ♪ ♪ Take me to the, take me to the ♪ ♪ Take me to the alley ♪ ♪ Take me to the alley, take me to the ♪ ♪ Take me to the, take me to the ♪ ♪ Take me to the alley ♪ - We've known each other a long time.

- Since 1976.

- Now I heard, I think Sam told me this that when you came to apply for a job in the New Grass Revival, that you were just applying for a bass player and at some point you said, "Hey, by the way, I sing a little bit," and he said, "Nah, I'm the lead singer."

And then you took over and he said, "I believe we got a new lead singer in John."

- The truth is I never replaced anybody as a singer, we always, for the entire 16 years I was in the band, we shared the lead vocal duties, we always did.

I had grown up in Cleveland and Pittsburgh, my family was nuts about football and so I was nuts about football, I wanted to play football.

And I played little league football and junior varsity football but I sat on the bench all the time, I had the enthusiasm but I didn't have the athletic gift.

So when I started playing music, it's like I realized I can really do this, it comes kinda pretty easy for me and people are telling me I'm really good at it.

- Wow.

- So, but I'd sung in church since I was-- - Okay so there was music in your family.

- Three or four.

My dad, he sang in church, he did all sorts of extracurricular choir activities and then he also was part of a barbershop quartet, so I was around singing and then once The Beatles hit, I was 10-years-old and that was all she wrote.

- You said to me one time that Sam Bush was a mentor, of course he was a mentor for lots of folks, but you were right there with him, what did you learn from Sam?

- Just about everything-- - A few things.

- They didn't teach me in kindergarten.

(both laughing) You know, it's funny 'cause he's just a year older than I so when I joined the band I had just turned 21 or 22, I can't remember, and because I had no frame or reference for this music I was doing, I was very dependent upon him for advice.

Advice about what to play on the bass, I never played without drums or electric guitars.

- Oh yeah, hmm mm.

- And so now I'm in a band with a banjo and a dobro and acoustic guitar and a fiddle and a mandolin and I'm like... - You are the force of the rhythm.

- Yeah, exactly.

One of the things they did was they gave me a bunch of records.

They gave me a bunch of Dillards records, a bunch of John Hartford records, a bunch of Doc Watson records, some Bill Monroe records, some Lester Flatt records and a couple joints.

(both laughing) He said, "Hey man,"-- - Take some time.

- Do your work, and I did.

- Yes, you did.

When did you meet Brooke and Darin Aldridge?

- I'm thinking it's about four years ago.

Now I was aware of them, Shad Cobb who was playing fiddle in my band had one of their CDs and we were driving around and listening to it and I was like, "These kids are really good."

- Yeah.

- And I didn't know they lived in Western North Carolina and I was playing a show in Hickory and they just showed up one night and I was like, "Darin and Brooke Aldridge," you know, 'cause I've really admired them and I said, "You guys wanna get up and sing?"

And they got up and sang and the gentlemen that manages-- - And you had never sung with them before?

- No.

When I got recalled up to come and rejoin The Doobie Brothers in 2010, that meant I lost all the guys that were playing with me, Jeff Archery and Shad Cobb and John Frazier and Brian Lawrence.

So they all had to go get other jobs so that made, when I would get an offer to do a show as John Cowan, it was like, "Well what am I gonna do, who am I gonna use?"

- Oh yeah, sure.

- And somebody, I think it was Darin's idea actually, they had a Christmas show at the Don Gibson in Shelby here and I think that was the first time we did it together and he called and he said, "Why don't you come up "and you can play some of our tunes "and we'll learn some of your tunes."

And it was just a joyous occasion.

- I bet it must be a great feeling when you get a singer who can match you with the power of her voice, the power of your voice and then Darin of course fitting in there just as a beautiful third part.

- I mean, Brooke, she sings like an angel and Darin as well and he's also, he's such an amazing instrumentalist.

- People heard you say, "I play with The Doobie Brothers, "or played with The Doobie Brothers, they went 'What'?"

- It's something.

I've been here now.

In a month from now, I will have been here 10 years.

"Here" being as a member of the The Doobie Brothers, a touring band.

And I also did it in the early '90s for almost three years.

I left and then they called me back nine plus years ago.

- Now they've got a lot of great singers so do you get to sing and play bass or how does that work?

- I play bass and I sing on every song, but I actually sing lead on one song.

So yeah, because they have two guys, all their hits were sung either by Tom Johnston or Pat Simmons.

- Right.

- So that stuff's etched in stone and when you're a heritage act, you gotta go play all those songs.

- Gotta sound like that.

- Yeah.

- What is it like touring with The Doobie Brothers compared to touring with a bluegrass band?

- Well musically it's not that different because the intention with the musicians and with the vision and the mission statement of either career is the same which is integrity, goodness, there's some kind of altruistic thing going on there with musicians you know, that we're always trying to do the right thing be it spiritually, physically, whatever.

- I'm glad to hear you say that.

- Well I think it's true.

- Yeah me too.

- It is different, you know, with The Doobie Brothers, we played big places and we'd travel on buses and so it's a lot different.

When I worked with Darin and Brooke, I'd get in my car and I'd drive 10 hours and play 45 minutes somewhere.

And I'd load all my-- - Drive another 10 hours.

- And I'd load all my equipment in myself and you know, I'm the booking agent, the tour manager.

In The Doobie's all I had to do is show up and play bass and sing.

- Great to have you, John.

- Thank you, David Holt.