Courtesy of the Wright family

The Wright Kids are (from left), Sage, 12, Levi 6, and Baruch, 9.

For months, fans of the Wright Kids -- young Franklin County bluegrass pickers extraordinaire -- had to satisfy themselves with watching the band on TV.

They were a rage on NBC's hit show "America's Got Talent," making the top 10 as they broke from bluegrass type to perform oldies pop songs for enthusiastic studio audiences and essentially clueless TV show judges. In the end, the Wright Kids didn't win, but they got plenty of exposure, won new fans and learned to perform under pressure.

Now's your chance to see the kids perform live in Roanoke -- not once, but twice. On Tuesday, they play in Roanoke Libraries' Emerging Artists Series. And on Saturday, they play their old haunt, Pop's Ice Cream & Soda Bar, where their energetic performances are the stuff of lunch counter legend.

The kids have grown up a lot since 2006, when brother Baruch, now 9, won an Oscar Mayer jingle contest. By all accounts, their instrumental prowess only continues to grow.

Sage, at 12 and the oldest member of the group, has a three-octave vocal range to go with her fiddling skills. Levi, 6, has become a real showman on bass, as "America's Got Talent" viewers can attest.

But to hear the band as it really should sound, the TV show was not the place. It felt at times like the show's producers were trying to turn them into another prefab act, in the mold of the Partridge Family. This trio is just too talented for that.

What's more, Sage never even got to sing on the show. I have to wonder how viewers would have responded to that. Go to nbc.com/Americas_Got_Talent to see clips of the band's performances on "America's Got Talent." You can go to cdbaby.com/cd/wrightkids to buy a copy of the CD "Playing On The Job," which includes their older brother, Mason, who is now off at college.

And if you want to read all the stories we've previously written about the band, go to blogs.roanoke.com/rtblogs/cutnscratch/.