In film and through pictures, looking at all those great old-timey bands crowded around a microphone, playing and singing together, just had to make you wonder: How long have they been doing this? How many hours were spent working out parts and sharing a vocabulary? Put together an all-star group and the chemistry often isn't there. For the Saturday Night Bluegrass Band, the Ulster County quintet going strong for five years, the combination of Brian Hollander (guitar, vocals), Tim Kapeluck (mandolin, fiddle, vocals), Geoff Harden (bass, vocals), Guy "Fooch" Fischetti (fiddle) and Bill Keith (banjo) is made up of highly accomplished individuals. But the whole is much greater.

On Saturday, January 24, the group will leave its weekly hit at the Bearsville Theater behind for a night and help the Ellenville-based Shadowland Theater kick off its 25th season. The group is a sight to see as well as a sound to remember - clustered onstage, heads bobbing frantically, the fiddle of Fooch wailing alongside the howl of the stringed mayhem as they generate high-energy instrumental sets or give new life to old-fashioned songs or their own material cast in an old-time mold. Playing hard and fast is second nature to the band; but so are ballads full of nuance and grit.

According to Hollander, "Tim Kapeluck, Bill Keith and I originally played together on and off locally for more than 25 years, with a repertoire that extends from traditional bluegrass to American acoustic music, jazz, country and some odd tunes that fit no real category."

Admission to the Saturday, January 24 concert is $15. Doors open at 7:30 p.m. and the concert begins at 8 p.m. Tickets are on sale now at the Shadowland Theatre box office at 157 Canal Street in Ellenville. Reservations are recommended and can be obtained by calling (845) 647-5511.