The Chapmans

The Chapmans, a Missouri-based family band, will launch a new Web site, http://www.thechapmansonline.com, on March 1.

The band consists of brothers Jeremy, Jason and John and their father Bill. They were the International Bluegrass Music Association’s Emerging Artist of the Year in 2001. They have three albums out on the Pinecastle Label, including “Simple Man,” the latest released in 2005.

According to The Chapman’s MySpace page, “the band’s musical journey begins in the early 1990s in Colorado where young fiddler John Chapman won a statewide junior division championship in his early teens. Inspired by his son’s interest in music, Bill took up the banjo and the two started a bluegrass band with some family friends. Eventually John would switch to guitar and begin singing lead vocals. When younger brothers Jeremy and Jason took up mandolin and bass respectively, a hobby turned into a full-on family passion.

“The Chapmans honed their skills through shows at county fairs and bluegrass festivals throughout the 1990s,” the MySpace biography continues. “They moved to the Missouri Ozarks in 1995 to make nationwide travel easier. In 1998 the Chapmans jumped into the national spotlight when they won the International Bluegrass Band Championship held by the Society For the Preservation of Bluegrass Music in America (SPBGMA). Along with the critical success of the band’s first independent album, ‘Love’s Gonna Live Here,’ the win paved the way for the Chapmans to sign a record contract with independent roots and bluegrass label Pinecastle Records.”