6 Day Bender, this year's "Rocking the Roots" Band for Bear on the Square, started with a group of students in Charlottesville, Va., playing on the downtown mall for weekend excesses, hollering to the open city streets. Then they shoved it in the corners of what they describe as "local gutbucket saloons" and plugged it in. After a few months, 6 Day Bender emerged as one of Charlottesville's most raucous and promising bands.

With a reverence for songs that have stood the test of time, 6 Day Bender started writing and playing songs peeled from the seed of American music. The band may have ignited with a bluegrass spark, but the ensuing blaze quickly overcame any boundaries of genre, merging country, bluegrass, folk, blues, punk... The band calls it "Mountain Rock ‘n Roll", where banjo picking meets drums, electric guitar and bass, merging plugged-in rock and old-timey music.

Band members include Luke Nutting - banjo, vocals; Clayton Avent - guitar, cello; Danny Breen - bass; and Corey Gross - drums. The group, which has made previous appearances in Dahlonega, released a self-titled CD in early spring of 2008.

See Their Website