The Hillbilly Thomists
Dominican Friars, playing bluegrass.
The Hillbilly Thomists have performed on the Grand Ole Opry Stage, throughout much of the U.S., and have produced four albums.
The friars met in Washington D.C. where they were all in the seminary. Some played music for their enjoyment, others had been professional musicians before taking their vows. They started playing folk and bluegrass together as an enjoyable way to take a break from their studies and produced their first album in 2017 to raise funds for their order. That first album, The HillbillyThomists, with 13 friars on the cover, reached #3 in Billboard's bluegrass top ten.
Their numbers change and some friars don't travel to every performance. This talented group of religious men sing, harmonize, write songs, and play a host of acoustic instruments: guitar, dobro, steel guitar, mandolin, bass, percussion, banjo, fiddle, and dulcimer.
Their repertoire and genre is decidedly bluegrass with outstanding harmonies and can include songs by Stephen Foster and Johnny Cash, traditional songs, and songs written by any one of several Thomists.
Their name came from a quote by Flannery O'Connor, who said, "Everybody who has read Wise Blood thinks I'm a hillbilly nihilist, whereas I'm a hillbilly Thomist."
A Thomist, pronounced with a long "o," believes that "the invisible grace of God can be at work in visible things..."
When not producing albums or on an infrequent performance tour, the friars live in their respective orders, contemplating, studying, and preaching. In their spare time, they write songs and play music.
