FRIDAYSUPDATE- SGGL: Oldies stay goodies, add newbies

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It may be over 20 years from its humble beginnings as a jam session among UVA graduates, but Speidel, Goodrich, Goggin and Lille are aren't slowing down anytime soon. The veteran folk quartet, well-known to many Friday After Five-goers, return to their roots with a familiar yet far from jaded sound. 

"There'll be about 70 percent original music, but we'll put some covers in, something people can dance to," band member Rusty Speidel says. "There'll be standard stuff from the '70s and '80s, a lot of three-part singing. If you haven't heard us in a while, it'll be a great dose of what we've played for years and years." 

Formerly an all-acoustic folk group, the band has recently added drums and keyboards in the form of new members Chris Holden and Robert Jospé, spicing up their original sound in a change "for the better," according to Speidel. 

"It increases the level of energy and gives people a chance to get out there and move," Speidel says of the band's move to electric. "It's given us a new take on the music we've been playing for 20 years."

Shifting from their a cappella roots while touring the big music venues across the state, SGGL continues to offer Charlottesville the same successful sound they began with. Returning to Fridays After Five for the second year, SGGL reunites after playing for the Class of 1983 at UVA's Alumni Reunion weekend June 6.

What does the future hold for the boys? After gigs in Roanoke and Warrenton, the band will return to Charlottesville for a benefit for Martha Jefferson Hospital. 

"We love to play. As long as the audience is enjoying it as much as we are, there's no reason to stop," Speidel says. "It's just a fun, reasonably humorous, approachable kind of show."

The show will open with former UVA Battle of the Bands winner and featured band in the Hook's May music issue, Tim Be Told– whose members are also UVA graduates and a cappella alumni. Brad Savage, programming director for 106.1 The Corner, says of the group, "If they keep playing more gigs, they'll gain a following really quickly."

"It may be a good fit," Speidel says of the match-up. "They'll be fresh and young."

SGGL performs at Fridays After Five on 7/18. Tim Be Told opens after 5pm at the Charlottesville Pavilion on the Downtown Mall.

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