Thursday
Feb 27, 2020 at 8:28 AM
(Feb. 27, 2020) The string band playing on a makeshift stage in the corner of the tent at Cisco Brewers wasn’t always the band it is now. When Rob Dunbar and Bob “Ybbob” Dickinson started playing mandolin and guitar together in their spare time, they were doing just that: playing in their spare time, not for a crowd.
That was the mid-1980s. The music was a mix of bluegrass and Irish folk songs, Appalachian music and Americana. By 2003, they had assembled a crew and started playing for crowds around the island. They called themselves Four EZ Payments.
“The acoustic music scene used to dominate out here,” said Dunbar, who plays mandolin and sings for the band. “We had limited rehearsal space. People used less equipment, and I still don’t want to carry an amp around. We can play a living room better than any band. Just drop the amplification. People like that a lot better.”
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