Roots & Branches Television Show
What happens when you take traditional bluegrass, mix it with a little Rock 'n Roll and Blues?? You get the Roots & Branches Television Show!
Every week you can see Sam Ensley and the boys hamming it up in a 30-minute jam session on Windstream Channel 4. As you might gather from the band's name, the "roots" of bluegrass are explored on the show, along with how the music can "branch" out into other musical genres.
Roots & Branches... The band is made up Sam Ensley, Sammy Ensley, Robert Brewer, and Wayde Powell III.
Sam Ensley is a retired school teacher who lives near the small community of Young Harris, Georgia. He is lead singer and usually plays mandolin, though he also trades son Sammy for his guitar on a song or two.
Sammy Ensley plays guitar and mandolin at times, and can be heard locally on The Wolf Creek Broadcasting Network (770 AM Young Harris, GA, 1400 WLSB Copperhill, TN, and WALH AM 1340 Mountain City, GA). He is the host of The Bluegrass Hour and a Half weekdays from 3 - 4:30 PM and Toothpick's Can't Hardly Count Countdown from 4:30 - 6 PM.
Robert Brewer is the other senior member of the band. During the week he's the Agricultural Extension Agent for Towns County. Robert plays bass and often sings.
Last, but not least, is Wayde Powell III. The banjo picker of the group, Wayde grew up in Young Harris and is finishing up his music degree at North Georgia College & State University in nearby Dahlonega. Wayde - who is often jokingly called "Wayde The 111th" after a misprint in the local newspaper - is a phenom on banjo and plays a wide variety of music and instruments.
Roots & Branches can be seen each week at the following times:
Sunday - 2:30 PM & 11:00 PM
Monday and Friday - 9:00 PM
Saturday - 8:00 AM, 2:30 PM, 9:00 PM & 10:30 PM