Appalachian Fire
Is this Hendersonville-grown bluegrass band headed for stardom?
Brittany Jackson  BlueRidge Living
Published: Sunday, January 3, 2010 at 4:30 a.m.

They started out as a three-man garage-pickin' bluegrass band just three years ago with no intention of
"making it big." "We just thought we'd have a little garage band and play for local residents," says Dwayne "Doc" Durham, the band's original visionary.  Little did he know that a few Novembers later, the now six-person band would be asked to open up for Rhonda Vincent and Ricky Skaggs at the Peace Center -- major names in the world of bluegrass.  "When they called and asked I was about to bust at the seams," Durham says. "I didn't think we were ready to stand on stage with Rhonda Vincent and Ricky Skaggs."  But on Nov. 1, they did just that.  "That was a tremendous treat for us," he says.
Appalachian Fire's six members come from different backgrounds in music -- some with little-to-no bluegrass
exposure, others who have been playing their entire lives. After several years of searching for musicians,
Durham thinks the band has a great chemistry.
It all started with Durham. In 2005, he dusted off the guitar that he'd neglected for about 30 years while
running Hendersonville Sports Medicine. He took some lessons to refresh his memory and rediscovered his passion for playing. A couple of years later he asked his friend and neighbor Cliff Searcy to join him.  Like Durham, Searcy also had a later-in-life rekindling of his love for playing bluegrass music.
Playing guitar since age 7 and about 10 or 11 years ago Searcy purchased a mandolin and started playing with a passion. Once he and Durham got together, it felt right.  The band played together for a year under the moniker of Piney Mountain Band. Then it went through more changes in membership and organization. To mark the significant evolution, Durham dubbed the newly comprised band "Appalachian Fire" at the start of 2008. 
"We wanted to take it to the next level," Durham says.
When Dave Ploss came on board as banjo player and Jim Fox as upright bassist, the band gelled. 
"Once Dave joined us, it seemed like we had the right kind of chemistry," Durham says. "And the bass player is so important -- to have someone back there keeping the beat.  Still, Durham knew the band needed more. Topping their list: A feature lead singer.
"I was at the IBMA (International Bluegrass Music Association) in Nashville in 2006, and every big band in the nation was there. I realized that none of these big bands takes a true identity until the person steps to the microphone to sing," Durham says. "In my mind I wanted a female lead singer because it's still a pretty male-dominated genre. I put some ads out but wasn't having any luck."
Durham found that perfect match -- Ranee Stepp, aka the "Golden Voice of Bluegrass" -- through a family
friend. He set up a meeting with Stepp and Searcy.  "We met at my health clinic and sang 'I'll Fly Away,' and after the first two measures we knew we had hit
Stepp, the youngest member of the band at 26, grew up singing in church and in musical theater in Charleston and Hendersonville but hated country music.  In fact, she had never even heard of bluegrass until she started dating the man who is now her husband, Craig, the associate pastor at Fruitland Baptist Church. Nonetheless, she jumped at the chance to join Appalachian Fire.
Even with the addition of Stepp, band members still felt like they lacked one last spot -- a fiddle player. This position, too, would be filled by someone who also grew up in music but, like Stepp, would end up as a bluegrass convert.  Karen Kuykendall, a mother of two from Flat Rock, joined the band in July after Durham heard her play violin at a wedding. Kuykendall, who has been classically trained in music since she was 5, was ready for something different.
With all of its members' musical influences, Appalachian Fire is indeed a bluegrass band that offers the whole performance package. They frequently appear at the Fiddlin' Pig in Asheville.
In 2009 the band played more than 40 shows, including the Fabulous 4th Celebration in Hendersonville, the Fletcher Feed and Seed and of course, the Peace Center Bluegrass Festival. Band members hope 2010 will bring a wider range of opportunities to play at regional bluegrass festivals.
Come March, they'll be back in the studio, this time with a better understanding of the recording process, a clearer vision, a more traditional bluegrass sound. And, Durham says, "Every band member will be on every song."..