Hellraisers: Bob Bell, banjo, Thomas Hart, fiddle, and Eric Graves, guitar, make up Raisin' Holy Hell, an old-time dance band that's not all square dancing - they love to boogie. The group will play Friday night at the armory. Courtesy of Raisin' holy Hell

They've been doing it for years, so they decided their band deserved the proper title to make it official.

Playing together for more than 25 years, Raisin' Holy Hell decided several years ago to adopt their name from another hell-raiser.

"It's a reference to John Brown, who is an old abolitionist," said Eric Graves, a guitar player from Fairbanks and founding member of the group. "The name comes from a book that is written about him. It really has little to do with John Brown, or being an abolitionist. It's just something we do. ... It sort of resonates with how we approach our music."

Graves, banjo player Bob Bell and fiddle player Thomas Hart form the nucleus of Raisin' Holy Hell. The band will perform at 8 p.m. Friday, April 16, at the armory.

"Bob is like the Mick Jagger of old-time music. He really gets into it. He's pretty wild," Graves said. "Thomas Hart, he's 'the Godfather.' He's been at it a long time. He comes from a long tradition of folk music and old-time music."

As for himself, Graves said, "I'm probably closer to Forrest Gump in the old-time music world here in Alaska."

Graves said their sound is not that of your ordinary dance band.

"Even though we're an old-timer band, it's not a square dancing band," he said. "It's a boogie dance, I guess."

"We have a saying, 'If you can't play it in the key of D, it's not worth playing,' " he said.

Due to other commitments, Graves said Raisin' Holy Hell has not been performing together publicly for a number of years.

"We're not actually a working band, we play when we're together and we play for ourselves," he said. "We're a loose band. We don't play out very much. We just usually play at home.

"There's about a three-month window each year when we actually get the chance to play together," Graves said.

The folk festival has provided them the chance to play together in their first festival in nearly 15 years, and Graves said he plans to make the best of it.

"There will be several friends joining us for the dance," he said. "We have a great time playing. We have a lot of fun when we play music and we think that the people who come see us will have a great time too."

Graves said the folk festival is a tradition, which he plans on attending each spring. "Thirtieth anniversary, we're glad to be there and proud of it."