Check out what people have to say about Back Roads:

"...a wonderful Bluegrass Band, that stands for respect for their friends and fans all over the world.  I want to thank them for what they've done to help bluegrass music, and I'll always be their friend." ~Bill Monroe, Father of Bluegrass Music

"Buddy Merriam's dynamic, virtuoso mandolin work makes Back Roads a band to be reckoned with." ~Bill Vernon, WXYU-FM, Lynchburg, VA

"Back Roads provide the best in traditional Bluegrass music.  Happy music by great people!" ~Pat Cannon, Foot and Fiddle Dance Company

"Buddy Merriam knows and loves the soul of Blue Grass music because he learned directly from Father:  Bill Monroe has helped and guided him personally for years.  Bands like Back Roads are the salt of the Blue Grass earth.  Listen up." ~Lou Martin

"Back Roads features the bluegrass instruments and its own methodology of bluegrass music and has take its repetoire from traditional sources, giants in the field and modern composers.  The band strives to open the music up to new ideas and influences while, at the same time, tipping its collective hat to the historical precedents of the form." ~Bluegrass Unlimited Magazine

"Buddy's mandolin playing is very evocative and reflective, bringing his own creative sensitivity to the program." ~Doug Tuchman, Orange Blossom Productions

Buddy Merriam and Backroads at the Village Arts Centre. Kilworth, Co. Cork, Ireland, November 8th 2004
Buddy Merriam and Back Roads displayed the professionalism we normally expect from bluegrass bands on their recent Irish tour. Their performance at the Kilworth Arts Centre confirmed that they are top class when it comes to their instrumental and vocal ability. Bandleader Buddy Merriam is a gifted mandolin player, firmly rooted in the style of the founder of the genre. He has assembled a unit of hot young pickers who delivered a performance to match any previously heard at the bluegrass capital of Ireland. Lead vocalist and guitarist Andy Falco showed why he has quickly moved into the elite group of young flatpickers including Bryan Sutton, Kenny Smith, etc., with a stunning version of "Cherokee Shuffle", delivered at breakneck speed, but rarely straying far from the melody. An early highlight of the gig was bassist Ernie Sykes's rendition of George Jones's "When The Grass Grows Over Me". Sykes, a young veteran of many top tier bands, including Bill Monroe's Blue Grass Boys, Jimmy Martin's Sunny Mountain Boys, the Osborne Brothers, Livewire, and many others, provided a rock-steady foundation for the lead instruments, and is possessed of a powerful voice. An unsuspecting listener would never have guessed that banjoist Mel Corry was not a long time member of the band, but was in fact guesting for this tour only. The Lurgan man, a Scruggs stylist, was always sympathetic in his backup playing, and his solos and breaks were top notch. Merriam, who told the fascinating tale of his first meeting with Bill Monroe and his almost Pauline conversion to bluegrass when struck by lightning that night, showed that he was not restricted to Monrovian territory when he played his own composition "Josh and Cody", a newgrass-style instrumental in tribute to Josh Williams and Cody Kilby. Fiddler Gary Oleyar evoked memories of Scotty Stoneman in his forceful rendition of the se1f-penned "Fillin' the Cavity". Perhaps the instrumental high point of the evening was a tour de force delivery of "Soldier's Joy", in which breaks and phrases were swapped by all of the lead instruments at an accelerated rate. Not content to confine themselves within strict traditional bluegrass boundaries, the band members showed influences from other genres, including western swing on "Smoke, Smoke, Smoke That Cigarette", pop on the Beatles' "I've Just Seen A Face", and gospel on Sykes's reading of Albert E. Brumley's "I'd Rather Live By The Side Of The Road". This band won many new friends on this tour, and their promised return will be eagerly anticipated.