Photo courtesy of LONG ACRE HOLLOW
Long Acre Hollow consists of Tyler Longenecker (from left), Izaac Schwartz, Mike Miller, Mollie Longenecker, Emily Roeder and Cody Felty.

LEWISTOWN — There’s been a bit of a bluegrass revival in recent years, with younger bands and musicians bringing fresh flood into the bluegrass scene. This new wave of bluegrass music is something called “Newgrass.”

If you’re looking to explore the newcomers to the bluegrass scene, you’ve come to the right place.

Meet Long Acre Hollow, a Lebanon-based bluegrass band with a blend of musicians ages 12 to 70, and a passion for both traditional and more progressive sounds.

Long Acre Hollow will perform at the upcoming Ellen Chapel Church Concert Series on Saturday. They will take the stage at 7 p.m. then again at 8:30 p.m. Admission is free.

What started out as some quality time for the Longenecker family quickly flourished into a six-piece band that hits the fair- and festival-circuit this time of year.

“We started jamming and sorta pretending to be a band for fun at home with friends when (daughter) Mollie was about eight years old,” frontman Tyler Longenecker said.

Mollie, who is now 12, plays both mandolin and sings vocals with the group. She got started at an early age by attending the kids academy at the Gettysburg Blue Academy for Kids, which provided a great learning opportunity and fun activity for youth festivalgoers.

“When she started to progress, it became a fun activity to do in the four walls of our house,” Tyler recalled. “I knew (guitar picker and vocalist) Cody (Felty) from church, and I knew he could play. When Mollie, who was 10, we started to get clued into how to get good at bluegrass.”

The band consists Tyler, who is the lead singer and lead guitar player; Mollie; Felty, who is only age 21; Mike Miller, bass player and back-up vocalist, who is also the senior member of the band at age 70; Emily Roeder, on fiddle; and Izaac Schwartz, a 14-year-old banjo picker.

“We met Izaak Schwartz at Wind Gap and we became great friends with his family and he is an exceptional player,” Tyler added. “We are so blessed to have great instrumentalists, Emily is awesome on fiddle and Mollie and Izaak do such a great job with their instruments and with Mike and Cody on vocals we really have an interesting mix of tunes with everyone chipping in.”

Felty, Miller and Schwartz are also the songwriters in the group, bringing exciting original songs to their eclectic repertoire.

“I think we’re known as a young band because it’s unique to have members who are so young,” Tyler said.

For Saturday’s performance, Tyler’s wife, Kimberly, will fill in for Miller on bass and Tim Zimmerman will stand in for Schwartz.

Additionally, Roeder and her sisters taught Mollie how to play the fiddle.

“We like to play fast and just kind of have fun, it’s really high-energy bluegrass where we seem to excel,” Tyler said.

The best part of playing gigs is making toe-tapping music that “gets people excited and lets them have some fun,” Tyler added.

He believes bluegrass music provides a better opportunity for the younger members — like Mollie and Schwartz — to perfect their craft, especially when it comes to playing longer sets.

Tyler said the band might play as many as 45 songs with a four-hour gig. Saturday’s performance will be about two hours, which could get up to 25 tunes or so.

“Everybody has to know the tunes,” Tyler explained. “When you’re playing bluegrass all the time, you are discovering new things and learn playing new tunes all the time.

“Bluegrass jams have taught the kids how to just play what they hear and follow the melody automatically,” Tyler added. “The kids can adapt with the music; it just builds and grows within them.”