Lance
Work: Lance
Brandon Howard Work was born Feb. 21st 1985 in Tennessee and was raised just out side of Fairview,
Tennessee in the rural town of Primm Springs. Lance comes from a family of singers and musicians, his mother sung in a southern
gospel group called “The Harvesters” in the 70’s and early 80’s and his father is a musician and was
the drummer for “The Harvesters”. Lance has a strong Christian upbringing. His father has been pasturing and evangelizing
for over thirty years and is still a minister today. Lance says, “My parents taught me to live by the word of God and
to do whatever I do for God’s glory.”
Lance remembers when he first began to distinctively hear melodies and understand harmony. “I was about the age
of three or four, and was in the dining room of our home with my mom, uncle, and my grandparents. “Earlier we had been
listening to a tape of a southern gospel quartet and there was one song that really stuck in my mind and can remember actually
differentiating between the lead and the harmony.” “I remember mentioning this to my folks and we began singing
the song.” “Not realizing it at the time but that’s when I started learning how to sing harmony.”
“This has led to a life-long ability of singing and arranging harmonies, especially since the majority of my musical
background is deeply rooted in southern gospel music.”
As the years went on Lance sang and traveled to many different churches with his two sisters Jenna and Makayla. They
still perform and sing together to this day along with their cousin Jonathan who sings bass. Lance also taught himself to
play numerous instruments along the way such as piano, drums, bass, guitar and most recently, the upright bass. “Throughout
the years I’ve written a few songs. “However, I actually haven’t had a real interest in writing until the
past couple of years.” Since becoming serious about writing Lance has proven himself to be very talented, even writing
some of the original songs for “Leiper’s Fork Bluegrass” such as “Traveling” and “My Ole
Susabell”. So one seeing a promising bluegrass group such as Leipers Fork Bluegrass must wonder; “where did they
pick up a wild, bass-slapping fellow like Lance?”
In November of 2005 Lance’s grandparents celebrated their golden wedding anniversary. His grandfather,
or Pop, as we call him, decided to have an old fashioned, bluegrass picking, weenie roasting celebration right in his front
yard, along with some wholesome, bluegrass entertainment from his front porch. Lance and his sisters, along with their cousin
Jonathon and his dad, had started a bluegrass group called “Mangrum Road”. Needless to say, they were asked to
perform, along with “The Pinewood Ramblers” and what would soon be “Leipers Fork Bluegrass”. This
is where Lance met Buddy Jones who played mandolin, and Chris Whidby, who played banjo, along side his uncle Harold who sang
lead, and his uncle Thomas, who at the time played guitar. The group hadn’t been together very long and needed a bass
player so Lance sat in with them that night playing acoustic bass and singing some harmony. All the fellows were impressed
with his attitude and talent.
Two weeks after the golden anniversary Lance got a call from his uncle Jim, the brother of Harold and Thomas, and one
of the founding members of the group, and was offered the position of bass player and baritone singer. He
accepted and showed up at the next practice and has been a part of “Leiper’s Fork Bluegrass” ever since.
Being the youngest member of the group all the band members love to pick on him, especially Chris Whidby. Lance
has become well known for his extreme-looking, spiked-up hair style and therefore has been given the nickname “Spike”.
In being asked about his feelings toward the
group and who he’d like to thank, Lance replies, “I love all of these guys and I truly enjoy performing and singing
this with them.” “They are some of the most incredible musicians you’ll ever hear, and some of the best
people you’ll ever meet.”
“I want to thank all of my family for all their support and to Boss Man Jim and Polly, the Belchers, the Whidbys,
the Dawsons, the Jones’, and to all the fans. I know I speak for everyone in the group when I say we couldn’t
do it without you, and we certainly wouldn’t enjoy it as much without you.” “To Thomas Gordon I really enjoyed
the times you traveled and picked with us and I thank you for hanging in there with us, even though it was difficult sometimes.”
“To Zeke, Jeff, Chris, Buddy and Harold, I have deeply enjoyed my time with you thus far, and I look forward to many
more years with Leiper’s Fork Bluegrass.”
