Photo courtesy of KODY NORRIS SHOW
The Kody Norris Show includes band members (from left): Kody Norris, Mary Rachel Nalley-Norris, Josiah Tyree and Charlie Lowman.

MIFFLIN — The Kody Norris Show is known for its flair — shimmering rhinestones on their lapels and the fringe-filled collars. While the band members’ edgy wardrobes conjure up memories of yesteryear, whatever you do, don’t call them retro.

That’s because now more than ever, the Kody Norris Show directs their gaze forever forward.

The talented group, made up of frontman Kody Norris, Josiah Tyree, Mary Rachel Nalley-Norris and Charlie Lowman, finds themselves with a growing legion of fans craving the nostalgic harmonies of bluegrass.

“There have been so many key moments along the way that have continued to raise us to the next level,” Norris said. “It’s hard to pinpoint one particular occasion but every experience has played its role in putting us where we are today.”

The reigning Society for the Preservation of Bluegrass Music of America (SPBGMA) Entertainers of the Year, The Kody Norris Show is slated to perform at Ragamuffin Hall in Mifflin at 6:30 p.m. on Saturday.

The Kody Norris Show came about in 2017 as Norris started out as Kody Norris and the Watauga Mountain Boys. In 2017, he decided to do a full rebrand when new band members were added.

“One of the best moves I ever made,” Norris recalled. “I added Mary Rachel first, then a couple years later Josiah Tyree joined in and the last missing piece was Charlie Lowman.”

In 2017, when the rebrand happened Norris’ vision was to create a brand of entertainment that didn’t have genre restrictions.

“We were able to create that and are still doing so,” he explained. “To see where we’ve been is always so humbling.”

While there’s certainly a comfort that comes from their retro look, their music offers a dynamic instrumentation and thought-provoking lyrics.

“There is a whole chapter of country music that’s just kind of faded away,” Norris explained. “I believe The Kody Norris Show has been instrumental in bringing back some of that nostalgia and some of that classic look that country music and bluegrass music used to have.”

Besides lead vocals, Norris also plays guitar, with Tyree on banjo, Nalley-Norris on mandolin and fiddle and Lowman is a stand-up bassist. All four also sing vocals.

The foundations of the electrifying four-piece band can be found within the roots of Norris himself, a once inquisitive youngster from Mountain City, Tenn. who would spend hours sitting in the passenger seat of his Uncle Jack’s Chevrolet El Camino listening to the entirety of The Stanley Brothers 16 Greatest Hits tape, wondering if he would ever be able to match the sweet harmonies coming through the speakers.

It was those very harmonies that Norris also would recognize wavering through the rafters of the Baptist church he attended as a kid. There was a bluegrass quartet that would play in the Free Will Baptist Church, and soon Norris became infatuated with the music that could materialize from a banjo and a guitar. So, at nine years old, he picked up the mandolin.

And he has never put it down.

“We each have a unique story of how we got started in the industry,” Norris said. “I think it would be safe to say, we have all been in the right place at the right times around the right people that have helped get us to this point.”

And their fans can’t get enough.

In fact, it’s those fans that have raised The Kody Norris Show to a place in which they stand today, a place where the four-piece, multi-instrumentalist, bluegrass band are quickly becoming four of the most epic entertainers of our time.

Add that to the songwriting displayed on the Kody Norris-penned “Baltimore I’m Leaving,” “Fiddler’s Rock,” “Please Tell Me Why” and the infectious “Gotta Get My Baby Back” on their new album “Rhinestone Revival,” and there is no doubt that The Kody Norris Show is as current as ever.

They ain’t retro. They have something different. They have something uniquely theirs. They have something that makes them stand out.

Norris said with the release of “Rhinestone Revival” in 2023 came a feeling that listeners witnessed the Kody Norris Show’s very own revival, as the band found themselves sprinkling their iconic rhinestones on a different music genres to solidify their place on the musical landscape. The band have released the first single, “The Auctioneer” from their upcoming album and another single “Blue Ain’t the Word” came out Friday.

“We want people to know who we are,” Norris once said. “When people leave a Kody Norris Show, our ultimate goal is that they’ve made a memory.”

And they will — rhinestones, fringe and all.