Larry Bellorín hails from Monagas, Venezuela and is a legend of Llanera music. Joe Troop is from North Carolina and is a GRAMMY-nominated bluegrass and oldtime musician. Larry was forced into exile and is an asylum seeker in North Carolina. Joe, after a decade in South America, got stranded back in his stomping grounds in the pandemic. Larry works construction to make ends meet. Joe’s acclaimed “latingrass” band Che Apalache was forced into hiatus, and he shifted into action working with asylum seeking migrants.
Currently based in the Triangle of North Carolina, both men are versatile multi-instrumentalists and singer-songwriters on a mission to show that music has no borders. As a duo they perform a fusion of Venezuelan and Appalachian folk music on harp, banjo, cuatro, fiddle, maracas, guitar, upright bass, and whatever else they decide to throw in the van. The program they offer features a distinct blend of their musical inheritances and traditions as well as storytelling about the ways that music and social movements coalesce.
The two musicians will be performing a concert at the Zoetropolis Cinema Stillhouse in Lancaster on Sunday January 15th at 7:30 sponsored by the Susquehanna Folk Music Society. More information and tickets can be found on the official SFMS website!
Prior to the concert, SFMS Executive Director Peter Winter Lee got to chat to Joe about the duo’s origins, the process of bringing two distinct folk musical styles together, and learning from each other!
What is something you’ve learned from the other during the collaboration?
We are both learning each other’s respective folk traditions, song by song. But music aside, we are learning about each other’s worldviews. We are from completely different worlds but enjoy expanding our notions of reality and finding common ground.
What are ways you feel your respective musical folk traditions are similar?
Llanera music and Appalachian folk are like old friends, perhaps from a past life or something. Both polycultural hybrid forms born in the Americas, both string band traditions with vibrant festivals and recording industries born out of them. The rhythmic and melodic structures are distinct, but the way practitioners make music a life path is similar. The vibe is the same.
What do you want your audience to take away from a Larry and Joe concert?
An entire gamut of emotions, an array of textures and colors, a whole bunch of stories, faith in the human spirit, and hopefully healing. We feel like our shows are medicine for the human soul.
You are both really passionate about how music and social justice work together. Can you speak a little about that?
I myself have worked with different communities in the US and found my footing as an artivist by writing social justice ballads about disenfranchised friends. Right before I met Larry, I was specifically working with asylum seeking migrants on the Mexican border, where I volunteered at a shelter in 2021. The social justice component of our duo project is self-evident, though. Larry is an asylum seeker, who had to leave behind a twenty some year musical career and work construction for 6 years in North Carolina to provide for his family. His is the story of a maestro musician forced to do back-breaking labor just to survive. January 11th is his last day on that job, though, and from then on, this duo is both of our full-time jobs. Larry’s difficult story is one of millions in this country, and we hope this duo can shine a light on issues surrounding migration.
Peter Winter Lee is the Executive Director of The Susquehanna Folk Music Society and plays guitar and sings in Celtic/Americana Band Seasons with his siblings. Give him a follow on instagram if you’re so inclined.
Pittsburgh based modern folk/Americana outfit Buffalo Rose will perform this Sunday 12/18/22 at the Abbey Bar in Harrisburg at 7 pm as part of the first ever Susquehanna Folk Emerging Artist Showcase Reunion. More information and Tickets can be found HERE. Sharing the bill will be fellow EAS alums Angela Autumn and Noah G. Fowler.
Buffalo Rose has had their praises sung my luminaries across the folk scene, including celebrated songwriter Tom Paxton who said, “”How can a band be loose and tight at the same time? Listen to Buffalo Rose for the answer. I flat love them.” The group recently released their newest record entitled, “Again, Again, Again,” Prior to the show, Susquehanna Folk Executive Director Peter Winter Lee caught up with Buffalo Rose guitarist, singer, and songwriter Shane McLaughlin to discuss the new album, the band’s process, and how on earth you keep a six member band going through a pandemic.
Tell me the tale of how Buffalo Rose came about?
It was supposed to just be a one off project, but we fell in love with making music together! Originally 4 of us got together to record one of my songs “Momma Have Mercy”. By the time a year had passed we had the 6 of us and we’ve been making music ever since!
This is the record I feel that we have been working toward since we started. It reflects so many of the sides of our musical identity while still having a cohesive flow. We also produced, edited, and mixed the record together, so we learned a lot in that process.
We applied to be a part of a social justice musical compilation put together by an organization called Hope Rises. We submitted our song “Simone” which Lucy wrote, and Tom was on the judge panel and loved it! He reached out to us and we have been writing almost every week ever since!
Walk me through the arrangement process of Buffalo Rose! What’s the process with working out all of those vocal harmonies?
The instruments and vocalists meet separately to work out their parts. Usually we start with just a melody and some chords, and we go over every line until it feels right. I feel that our approach vocally is more intuitive then technical. Instrumentally it definitely has an interesting contrast, more of a who is filling the percussive role at this point, who is going to play this melody.
What was it like navigating the pandemic as a band? Any lessons learned amongst all the challenges?
It was a huge challenge of course, especially with 6 of us! We also had a member step down during the pandemic, though we were extremely fortunate to have that lead us to Margot. I would say we learned how important meeting everyone’s emotional, physical, and mental is to creating and playing music in a sustainable way. We learned to listen to each other and how to take care of each other.
Details and Tickets for the Emerging Artist Showcase Reunion Show on Sunday, 12/18 ft. Buffalo Rose, Angela Autumn, and Noah G. Fowler can be found HERE.
Peter Winter Lee is the Executive Director of The Susquehanna Folk Music Society and plays guitar and sings in Celtic/Americana Band Seasons with his siblings. Give him a follow on instagram if you’re so inclined.
The celebrated band from Ireland, Téada, will be bringing a host of energetic traditional Irish tunes and songs to The Studio, Appell Center for the Performing Arts in York on Sunday, March 6th in an event sponsored by the Susquehanna Folk Music Society. More information and official SFMS Covid Safety Policies can be found on the Susquehanna Folk Music Societywebsite. Tickets for the concert are $24 General Admission, $20 for SFMS Members, and $10 for students (ages 3-22). Tickets will be available at the door or online.
Téada is a renowned band from Ireland that has been playing and recording albums for 21 years. Téada was founded in 2001 by Sligo fiddler Oisín Mac Diarmada along with button accordion player Paul Finn. They’re joined by Seán Gavin on flute and uilleann pipes and Patrick Doocey on guitar. This acclaimed band has toured the world and has played at prominent festivals including Milwaukee Irish Fest, Edmonton Folk Festival, Temple Bar TradFest, Shetland Folk Festival, the Rainforest World Music Festival, and many others. In 2014, the band performed to 40,000 people during an extensive 7-week tour of Japan and Taiwan. This spring, Téada will be releasing their sixth album. SFMS Staff Writer Mary-Grace Autumn Lee had the chance to chat with Téada’s fiddle player, Oisín Mac Diarmada about touring, recording, and stories the band has gathered along the way.
Téada is 21 years on the road this year and time sure flies when you are having fun! The band grew out of an album project I was asked to do back in 2000 which included some of my great musical friends. There was no grand plan to start a band and tour the world, but momentum grew from the recording and subsequent gigs and the project had evolved into Téada by 2001. Initially the band had a string focus in terms of instrumentation – hence the band name which translates from Irish (Gaelic) as ‘strings’. America has always been a huge part of the heartbeat of Téada, providing us with great support and encouragement since our debut tour in June 2001, and we are always thrilled to return, albeit with a few more grey hairs then we had back at the beginning!
Téada has performed around the world at many acclaimed festivals. What are some things you have experienced from traveling to different countries and performing for people of different cultures?
Sharing your culture with people around the world is a really great privilege, which I become even more aware of as time passes. There is such a welcome in so many parts of the world for Irish culture and we are blessed that people without a direct connection to Ireland can feel such affection for our music, song and dance. It is definitely one of the most fulfilling aspects of what we do as a profession, to be able to connect with people from such a variety of places and get a glimpse into their cultures and life experiences. One of the highlights for me was a 7-week Téada tour of Japan & Taiwan 2014, which was eye-opening in terms of getting to experience such a different culture to our own.
Téada is releasing their sixth album this coming spring. Would you mind sharing a little bit of the process of creating the album? How does the band collect and arrange tunes?
Our new album – Coiscéim Coiligh (As The Days Brighten) – will be released very shortly on Gael Linn Records. The title is an old Irish (Gaelic) phrase which translates literally as The Rooster’s Footsteps, but is suggestive of the onset of brighter days. Like a lot of projects, this recording process was interrupted by the Pandemic, which delayed the release timeframe from 2020 to 2022. It seems like now is a nice time to be releasing the album, as we get back on our feet again as a society with an optimism that brighter times are ahead. Going back to the actual process of creating our albums, they tend to take shape when we reach the stage of yearning for some exciting new material to add to our live set! Then the gathering of material begins in earnest and over time and of course a number of rehearsals in various parts of Ireland (since we are scattered around the country in terms of our locations!), things start to digest and new selections emerge. When it comes to choosing material to record, we tend to favour unusual repertoire, which may be unearthed from older archival recordings or indeed recently composed within the tradition.
Téada is known for taking rare tunes from the tradition and re-energising them to keep them relevant today. How does the band approach these tunes to keep them alive?
There’s something really special about coming across a rarely-heard older tune. It’s like a glimpse into another time, and more often than not, these tunes have unusual motifs or melodic ideas which you don’t typically hear played nowadays. It’s exciting to keep renewing the well of repertoire within traditional Irish music, whether through new compositions or bringing back forgotten tunes from the past!
Susquehanna Folk has many members who are Irish music appreciators and/or musicians learning Irish music. What are some of the most important tips you share to musicians learning how to play Irish music?
If you haven’t yet started on the road of learning to play Irish music, it’s never too late to start! There are so many resources out there nowadays for players of all levels, which can stimulate you to improve your skills. Learning this music, like any craft, is a journey so it’s important to try to get enjoyment from the journey! Enjoy the small steps of development rather than overly focussing on gaining proficiency quickly. Listening is as important as the active playing part.
Téada is getting ready to hit the road to go on a spring tour. What are a few things you are looking forward to?
Touring is a great privilege for those of us who enjoy it! There’s always a sense of expectancy heading out on tour and no two tours are the same. I’m looking forward to playing music with musicians I admire, soaking up all the visual stimulation that travel brings and hopefully bringing some enjoyment to other peoples’ lives. When it comes together for performers and audience, it is a very special connection and occasion!
Téada will be performing live on March 6th, 2022 at The Studio, Appell Center for the Performing Arts in York . For more information about tickets and concert safety policies, please visitthe Susquehanna Folk Music website.
Mary-Grace Autumn Lee is a Harrisburg area musician. You can find her on instagram @thatdulcimergirl, her youtube channel, and her official site. Mary-Grace also plays with the Celtic/Americana band Seasons.
Acclaimed New England based vocal group Windborne will bring their eclectic mix of traditional folk music and gorgeous harmonies to the Fort Hunter Barn in Harrisburg on Saturday, January 29th in an event sponsored by the Susquehanna Folk Music Society. The group will host a Community Sing Workshop at 4:30, followed by a full concert at 7:30. More information and official SFMS Covid Safety Policies can be found on the Susquehanna Folk Music Society website. Tickets for the Community Sing Workshop are $15 General Admission, $13 for SFMS Members, and $10 for students. Tickets for the Concert are $24 General Admission, $20 for SFMS Members, and $10 for students (ages 3-22). Tickets will be available at the door or online.
Earlier this week, Susquehanna Folk Music Society Staff Writer Mary-Grace Autumn Lee got to chat with Windborne member Jeremy Carter-Gordon ahead of their January 29th Concert.
Windborne is a New England based group that uses their voices to share traditional folk music from around the world. Although their music is primarily rooted in American Folk, the members of the band have done extensive research and traveling to include folk music from the Republic of Georgia, Corsica, Bulgaria, the Basque region, and Quebec into their repertoire. The band also incorporates storytelling into their performances as a way to enrich audience members on the history and tradition of the music they sing. The band is a quartet and is made up of the members Lauren Breunig, Jeremy Carter-Gordon, Lynn Rowan, and Will Thomas Rowan. Although all members of Windborne are passionate about educating and performing, their main goal with their music is to change hearts.
I had the honor of getting to interview band member Jeremy Carter-Gordon about Windborne’s music as well as learn what audience members can expect from their upcoming performance for Susquehanna Folk.
Not only have the members of Windborne done extensive research on folk music from around the world, but the band has also traveled performing and picking up songs from different countries. What are a few similarities and differences you have noticed in folk music from different cultures?
Windborne is specifically interested in the songs from countries and cultures that have traditions of harmony singing. While this is common in many western traditions, there are plenty of places around the world that don’t use harmony in their music. Learning about the different ways of creating sound, what intervals or timbres are considered as “sweet” or “harsh” sounding, and playing with time signatures is always interesting. As we have done more of our own arranging in the past 5 years, Windborne is able to draw on some of these wider ideas of what music can be to crowd arrangements that are interesting, unexpected, and compelling.
Windborne pulls from folk music from around the world. How do you pay respect to cultures other than your own while learning and presenting their songs?
There are so many different ways of using a human voice, and when we learn songs from a tradition we do our best to seek out singing masters from that culture to help us with the vocal production, pronunciation, and insider perspective on the way the music is conceived of. For example, Corsican music is improvised within a structure, and the different singing roles all have a different and specific relation to each other. Certainly a skill musician could listen to a recording of Corsican music, notate it, and then send those notes. It may even sound like Corsican music, but they would be missing the very core of what makes that singing special. We also make sure to share this knowledge, cultural context and attribution with our audiences, so that they could look into these traditions further.
All of you are classically trained singers and have been singing and teaching for years. How has this experience helped you with learning folk music which is traditionally passed down informally, and is taught through small gatherings or aurally?
Actually, Windborne’s background in music training is pretty widely varied, from no formal training to quite a lot. While some of us have a more classical background (Will has a masters in choral conducting!) our first training really was informal singing parties in the folk community around New England where we grew up. This helped us be comfortable with improvising harmonies, experimenting, and most importantly: listening. The ability to listen deeply is incredibly important for harmony singing, and transforms a group from just people singing different notes near each other to creating something far greater than the sum of its parts.
Not only are your performances filled with folk songs, but you also do a lot of storytelling. Why do you think it’s important to include storytelling into your performances?
This really comes back to our commitment to sharing context and history of the songs that we sing. Because so much of our music comes from a time and a place different than our own, We find it important to help our audience think about the songs closer to the way we, or the people who wrote them, hear and appreciate them. As we start to sing more songs with a message of social justice, it’s important to ask that we don’t just sing beautiful music, but that the messages the songs carry are made clear. Sometimes music can change hearts, even when minds are made up.
Windborne is known for taking old songs and connecting them to the social issues of today. What are things you look for in an old song that you think would resonate with people today?
Usually when we are looking at this songs, we are stunned by how relevant and modern they feel. We sometimes avoid songs that are speaking super specifically about a particular event that is not going to be understood or familiar to our audiences. But there is so much out there that makes it clear that modern day struggles are not new or unique, but tied to a long history of people fighting for a better world. Using old songs can be powerful because it’s often easier to see injustice with the distance of the past, and we can then tie it back to the events we see going on today. We often add new verses to songs when we find it will help draw those connections.
Before your show for Susquahanna Folk, you will be hosting a Community Sing. What can people expect from this event, and why is it important to host a community sing?
Singing in community is something I’ve been part of the human experience for probably as long as anything! It’s becoming rarer and rarer in today’s world, but it’s an important part of how we became singers, and we love gathering people to sing! As for what to expect, we will be teaching songs by ear, no experience or sight reading requires! All voices are welcome and appreciated so just bring yourself, a mask, and enthusiasm to try new things!
Windborne will be performing live on January 29th, 2022 at the Fort Hunter Barn. For more information about tickets and concert safety policies, please visit the Susquehanna Folk website.
Mary-Grace Autumn Lee is a Harrisburg area musician. You can find her on instagram @thatdulcimergirl, her youtube channel, and her official site. Mary-Grace also plays with the Celtic/Americana band Seasons.
West Coast blues guitar and ukulele queen Del Rey will return to again wow SFMS audiences with her distinctive ukulele and resonator guitar stylings in both a virtual concert held this Saturday (Nov 14, rescheduled date!) at 7:30 pm as well as an online ukulele workshop held at 4 pm on Sunday, November 15th. Tickets and additional information can be found at the SFMS Website.
Earlier this week, SFMS staff writer Peter Winter and Del chatted over email about setlist construction, playing online, and the importance of passing on musical know how! This is the second time Peter and Del have spoken. Their 2019 conversation is in the Folkmama Archive and can be read HERE.
What can people expect from your ukulele workshop?
In the ukulele workshop I’m going to introduce people to fingerpicking. Fingerpicking is basically a way to turn a solo instrument into a band-your thumb is the bass player and your fingers play the melodies and articulate the chords. We all are unable to get together and play right now, so being your own band is the way to go!
You do quite a bit of education on your instruments in addition to just performing (I loved your boogie woogie guitar tutorial) why is educating and instruction important to you?
Music is a fundamental part of being human-I call it “the sound of humans doing no harm.” Making your own music is one of life’s great pleasures, no matter your skill level.
Have you played many virtual concerts during lock down? How has the shift been?
I’ve played one ortwo concerts a month since the lockdown. It’s a totally different experience for me. An audience is a living thing, unique every time and different every where. Virtual audiences don’t have an opportunity to be with each other while having the musical experience. I’m grateful to be able to play and that people listen, but I miss being all together. But I do like a camera-I like how close it is.
You obviously have an extensive repertoire and back catalogue, how do you decide what makes the setlist for the concert?
I often respond to the feelings of a live audience-which I can’t really get to on camera. So for virtual reality I rely on my 40 (!) years of playing music for similar kinds of audiences in real life. The songs themselves tell stories and fit together in certain ways. Much of my aesthetic is based on serving the songs, bringing them to different listeners and letting them loose. I’m a song vector!
Any current musical projects in the works?
I’m doing an online teaching project with my colleague Jim D’Ville teaching fingerpicking in January. More info HERE. We are having success in getting players to syncopate. But my usual lifestyle of running around the world with an instrument on my back and a small suitcase doesn’t seem possible any time soon.
Folk icons Jay Ungar and Molly Mason join us for a day of live music, from upstate New York direct to your home. From 2:00 pm to 3:30 pm the duo will lead an online workshop, with a live stream concert later that evening at 7:30 pm. Included in the concert will be a Q&A with SFMS Board Member Autumn Moore. More information as well as tickets for both the Concert and the workshop can be found at the SFMS website.
Earlier this week Jay and Molly spoke with SFMS Staff Writer Peter Winter via email about playing in a duo, making and teaching music amidst a pandemic, and the enduring quality of a slow waltz.
You are one of the most revered duos in acoustic music. What is special/different about playing in a duo as opposed to a larger ensemble?
It’s more flexible and allows us each space for spontaneity. We have been playing together for so long that we can almost read each others minds. While bandmates who’ve played together for years can read each others minds, we each have only one mind each to read. When one of us introduces a spontaneous musical idea the other is able to follow. We each also carry more responsibility. I play most of the solos and fills, while Molly functions as chord player, bass player and drummer. But with more responsibility comes more opportunity as well.
It’s so impressive that you two have been able to move your revered fiddle camps and workshops online due to the pandemic. What was that experience like? Was there a learning curve moving your operation online?
This year was the 40th anniversary of Ashokan Music & Dance Camps. From April through August we offered ten camps ranging from weekends to full weeks and for lots of different instruments, plus singing and dancing. You can check out our future lineup of camps at ashokan.org. The lock-down hit just a few weeks before our first camp in April, the Old Time Rollick. We were fortunate to have Debra Clifford as the director of that program. She’s very social media savvy and had hired a staff who share that interest and talent. They were all a huge help in making the Online Rollick a success. None of this would have happened without our daughter Ruth Ungar Merenda, you may know her from the Mammals. As director of communications and the arts at Ashokan, Ruth headed the team that created our online camps. The Old Time Rollick has usually been capped at 110 people including staff. But the Online Rollick was three or four times that size with participants from around the world. Ruth and her team did a great job and learned a ton doing it, which they were able to apply to our next camp, the Cyber String Fling with Alasdair Fraser and Natalie Haas. By mid summer they were pros and were being asked to consult with other organizations that were building online music camps. We’re still offering an online series of weekly music and dance workshops along with an interactive lecture series called Catskill Conversations. You can check it all out at ashokancenter.org/events. All the camps and events are archived and are available to participants for a year and a subscription service is also being offered. Frankly we’re blow away by it all!
What can musicians expect from participating in your fiddle/guitar workshop prior to the concert?
We start by demo-ing the tune we’re teaching together as a duo, then split into two zoom rooms. Molly teaches the basics and subtleties of her approach to chords and runs for guitarists (piano and bass players might also be interested). Jay teaches the melody, ornaments and expression for fiddlers—with all melody instruments welcome.We then get back together and everyone has a chance to play what they’ve learned with the two of us from their own homes.
How have you two adjusted to the experience of performing virtually?
We’ve been doing a concert from our home every Wednesday at 8pm on Facebook Live. We play some of our regular concert material and other music that we’ve recorded. But to keep things fresh from week to week, we also play tunes that we haven’t done in years and we dig up new material for each show. It’s a challenge that we both welcome and thoroughly enjoy. It gives shape to our weeks during these crazy times. And most importantly it gives us a way to share our music and connect with people on a regular basis, something that’s so important to us both. We read online comments and have started communicating directly with some of our regular viewers. It’s an exciting new world!
You two are famous for your love of a good waltz! What about that melodic 3/4 time calls to you?
Wow, what is it about waltzes? Our tune book, Catskill Mountain Waltzes & Airs, ventures into slow tunes in 2/4 or 4/4 as well. I think we both love music that makes an emotional connection and touches the heart. Who doesn’t of course. But we have somehow found that waltzes and airs are where we both make the deepest connection with audiences and with one another.
Peter Winter lives in Harrisburg where he writes, teaches music, plays in the Celtic group Seasons, DJs, runs half of the record label His & Hers Records and serves on the board of the SFMS. He is on instagram
The Scots neo-traditional super group Old Blind Dogs will perform at the Fort Hunter Barn in Harrisburg on Thursday, September 206th at 7:30 pm. The concert is sponsored by the Susquehanna Folk Music Society. More information can be found on theSusquehanna Folk Music Society website. Tickets are $24 General Admission, $22 for SFMS Members, and $10 for students (ages 3-22). Tickets will be available at the door or online.
Earlier this week, the band chatted with SFMS staff writer Peter Winter via email about what makes traditional Scottish music unique, their newest record, “Room with a View,” and some of the band’s favorite Scottish folk records!
The band name comes from an American ‘Old Time’ song called The Old Grey Mare. The band started touring in the US around 1994, the song was in the repertoire and when pressed on an early tour for a band name (which the group had not at that point committed to) the first thing that popped into their heads was the line “The old blind dog, she stole all the sausages, down in Alabama” and the name stuck…
How would you characterize the Scottish fiddle music tradition? What sets it apart?
Within Scotland there are many musical influences and styles that all add to the vast richness of our fiddle culture. There’s not one thing that sets it apart. Fiddle music in Scotland is defined by the rhythm of the dances and songs of the different regions that make up this puzzle. Gaelic song is part of this as much as pipe Marches and Strathspeys and reels. From as far north as Shetland down to the Borders there are a huge range of musical styles which are constantly evolving.
You guys obviously bring in a lot of different styles into your music. How do you approach the fine line between tradition and innovation?
We were all brought up steeped in the traditional music the came before us but it’s impossible in a world of multi media to live sheltered from exposure to music and popular culture from all over the world. As a result we were all brought up listening to music from every genre and many other cultures. Whilst we’ve always remained very respectful of our tradition – we are very proud of our culture after all – we’ve all been heavily influenced by other music. As an aural culture, passed on by ear, our tradition has always changed. By incorporating new styles and influences we are just continuing that evolution.
Where does the title for your newest record, “Room with a View” come from?
The album title came from a lovely day photographing the front cover. An early start in the mist, loading furniture in to a van and heading for an isolated chimney on the road between Tomintoul and Grantown-on-Spey.The weather was kind to us!
What do you hope the audience takes away from an Old Blind Dogs show?
Our shows are an opportunity to dance and sing, to immerse yourself for one night in the joy and hedonism of Scottish ‘Celtic’ culture. Let your hair down, take a ‘dram’ (a shot of whisky), forget your worries and transport yourself to Scotland for a night!
What are some mandatory records to listen to for people who want to get more into specifically traditional Scottish music?
Music is so subjective I think it’s better if we answer this individually with our personal favorite traditional Scottish albums!
Peter Winter lives in Harrisburg where he writes, teaches music, plays in the Celtic group Seasons, DJs, runs half of the record label His & Hers Records and serves on the board of the SFMS. He is on instagram
Earlier this week, celebrated clawhammer banjo player Brad Kolodner chatted with SFMS staff writer Peter Winter about the origins of the group, their new album “Duckpin” and his journey to the banjo.
I’m sure this could be a very lengthy story, but how did Charm City Junction come about? How did you guys all meet, begin playing music with each other, and decide to become a band?
Well we’d actually all known about each other for quite a number of years, occupying different corners of the traditional folk music communities here in Baltimore. We’re all connected to the Baltimore area. I grew up playing old-time music (because my father is a musician) and our accordion player Sean has a father who plays the Irish button accordion (he’s quite renowned in that world), and we grew up together in Baltimore sort of crossing paths, sort of missing each other in the night. It’s funny how it works in these different traditional music communities, they sort of occupy some of the same spaces, but don’t always intermingle together. So we were always aware of each other. Patrick grew up in this area playing bluegrass fiddle…Eventually we decided to just get together for some jams, just kind of as friends.
We kind of had this meeting at this local old-time music jam here in Baltimore that I run with my father, called the Baltimore Old-Time Jam. I had met Patrick there (he just showed up one night), we got to chatting, [and] said it would be fun to get together to play some tunes. Patrick was going to some of the local Irish sessions, and he was playing with Sean playing some Irish music, and so we got together at Patrick’s house, back in I think it was probably the fall of 2013?
We decided to just get together for some tunes and see if we could find common ground between our various styles: old-time, Irish, bluegrass. Being a clawhammer banjo player, I play old-time, but I liked bluegrass, enjoyed Irish and didn’t have a chance to play it much, so I sort of jumped at the opportunity. We’re all sort of in the same age range, and we all enjoyed hanging out with each other, so it really sort of formed on friendship initially, and then evolved from there.
As the three of us started playing together just casually, I called up my friend Alex who was living in Northern Virginia at the time (a great bass player), who I’d known for a couple years through old-time music festivals. [I] called him up and said, “You know we’ve got these three musicians up here in Baltimore, we’re getting together to play, and I think the only thing we are missing is bass. You should come on up and have some tunes with us.” So Alex came up for a handful of jams. There was a great musical spark right off the bat, we really enjoyed playing together, enjoyed each other’s company, and quickly realized we had something really unusual and unique between our different styles of music, our various backgrounds. There was a lot of common ground. We grew up playing slightly different types of music, [but] these styles all kind of have a common thread, as it was those Irish and Scottish fiddle tunes that were brought over many years ago, that sort of morphed into old-time tunes with the banjo from Africa and different influences there, and then old-time music kind of morphing into bluegrass. There’s definitely a commonality between those different genres. We pretty quickly recognized that our repertoires are really not as different as we thought they might be! And so we just started to get together more regularly, and work up some arrangements, started to play concerts, record albums. Now we’ve toured all over the country and the rest is history!
Yeah! That’s awesome. One of the things that jumps out at me about Charm City Junction that I think is so interesting is that as you said, with these old-time, bluegrass, and Celtic traditions, there is this common thread, and one kind of led to the other. However, I think musicians and especially performance ensembles still tend to stay in one tradition, and there’s not that much crossover. So what’s interesting about you guys is that you are jumping around. You’re an ensemble that plays Celtic, and old-time and some bluegrass as well. Was it an intentional concept of “let’s be a band that genre hops?” It seems like it was more of a natural progression.
Yeah, I would draw that back to the collaborative nature of this group, in terms of how we build our repertoire and put together our sets. We each have sort of a wealth of knowledge and a big repertoire in each of our own respective home base genres, so when we get together to work on tunes, we kind of go around the circle and just kind of pitch in a tune. I’ll throw out an old time tune that I think could work really well in this context, Sean will then throw out an Irish tune or two to play as a medley, and then Patrick might have a Bluegrass classic that he might want to throw into the mix, and then we teach it to each other. Alex also plays a mix of music; old-time, and he grew up playing a lot of jazz and soul. There’re different types of funky and groovy things that he’s able to come up with. Really, I think it is a product of just sort of our collaborative process.
Over the years we’ve definitely started to play more original tunes that one of us will write and then we’ll all sort of collaborate, and work on too. On our latest album I think there are probably five or six original songs, whereas on the first record there weren’t any. It was all traditional material and kind of hopped around from genre to genre. But we’re really trying to carve out a sound of our own, drawing from those different traditions. We don’t want to just come off as academic, in a concert where we’re saying “Ok, here’s an Irish tune, here’s a bluegrass tune!” It’s funny because we’ll play concerts and people will come to us afterwards and they’ll pinpoint specific songs and think that they are Irish tunes because we played it a certain way, but it’s actually an old-time tune! We’re fans of the different genres and not necessarily making it seem like “Here’s the Irish portion of the concert! And here’s the bluegrass portion of the concert!”
Yeah! That’s really really cool. I want to talk about your personal musical journey. Your father Ken is a very renowned hammered dulcimer player (I play hammered dulcimer as well, so mucho respect). I know you come from this musical background and you play other instruments, but how did you find your way to the banjo?
Well I grew up around the music, so there was a lot of hammered dulcimer and fiddle, and it was always something my father did with his friends. I never really thought it was something that I would do, my parents didn’t press music on me or force me to play banjo or anything. I came to it on my own when I was 17, and I was taking an intro to banjo workshop up in Maine at a music camp that my father was teaching at and I was along for the week. Mostly it was to just hang there play with some of the other kids at the camp, I had no intention of picking up a new instrument, but I took an intro to banjo (old time clawhammer banjo) class, and I really loved the sound of the clawhammer banjo and liked the way it felt in my hands. My instructor was a great clawhammer player whose playing really moved me.
I came back home in the summer (I guess this was 2007) and asked my parents if they could find a banjo somewhere for me to keep learning on. I just really started to fall in love with old-time music, and it really was from that day forward where I really started to go to old-time music festivals where there are just folks of all ages. Particularly peers of mine who are really into the music, have a really sort of exciting youthful energetic approach to the music. Once I started to find friends who were really into old-time as well, that really grabbed me.
I’ve been very fortunate to have my father as a great resource for learning the music in those early years and I certainly, really appreciate having the music around the house so regularly when I was a kid, because when I picked up the banjo it felt really natural and…even though I wasn’t aware of it all those years, listening to the music [back then] it was starting to seep into my bones. When I finally picked up the banjo I took a real liking to the music, and it just sort of took off from there.
Was there ever a point when you were finding your way on this instrument where even you met the banjo through clawhammer, you were asking, “Do I want to learn clawhammer, or do I want to learn 3 finger bluegrass style?”
I wasn’t actually too familiar with the different styles of banjo, I think I sort of, like many folks, thought of the instrument as “the banjo!” I didn’t really recognize that there are really many different approaches. I certainly acknowledged that clawhammer did sound a bit different than maybe what I was used to hearing on the banjo, of course the bluegrass style being by far the most popular style culturally. But I think there’s a whole resurgence of interest in claw hammer these days, and there’s just tons of folks interested in learning, and it’s becoming much more well known, the clawhammer style. In any case, I think I just liked the fact that clawhammer and that old-time style, just really lends itself more to the groove, rather than taking sort of wild improvisatory solos. There’s just a really nice steady groove to clawhammer that really hooked me, [it] just has this really nice flow. I also just like that clawhammer is kind of like a band with one hand. This strumming rhythmic sound, but you can also play melody, there’s also the drum head that you can tap so it’s kind of percussive. It just has this really versatile sound. I don’t think I was consciously sitting there one day trying to decide, “well do I want to play bluegrass music or old-time music?” I think as musicians it was something that I liked, and I just pursued that. I didn’t think too much more deeply than that.
You guys are doing some festivals with them this year, so I was wondering, how did this come about? How did you guys start working together?
Yeah! I think at its core the music that we play is dance music, and over the years the dance component of traditional music sort of becomes divorced from the actual styles in which they’ve grown and evolved together; so on stage you frequently see bands playing, and then there’s folks out in the crowd, whereas I think this music sort of goes hand in hand with different styles of traditional dance. It was a really natural fit. Here in the Baltimore area there’s this dance ensemble called Footworks (they’ve been around for forty years, I think this is their 40th anniversary this year) and I think they saw us playing at a concert in North Carolina. I think we were down at IBMA the big Bluegrass music conference, probably back in 2015 or something like that. They saw us play there, and they immediately fell in love with what we were doing; blending these different styles of music as they also blend together different types of traditional progressive dance. Whether it’s things like Irish step dance or clogging, or flatfooting, they also mix in modern dance, [and] traditional Hungarian dance. Dance styles from all over the world. They were really attracted to us, how we had (through a similar philosophy) tried to sort of blur the lines between these genres while still acknowledging the roots of the music. And so it was a really natural pairing when we got together with them, back in…I guess it was a couple years ago now, we put together a big show at a local theater here in the Baltimore area called the Gordon center (we’re actually working on another show hopefully for 2020 there). In any case, we got together with them, building a repertoire based on our material and they arranged dances to our music, and we put together a whole program. We didn’t do much last year, we played one down at the Strathmore in DC, but this year we got a few shows on the books. We’re playing a couple of festivals Delaware, Valley Bluegrass Festival, then we’re taking it on the road to Old Songs festival in New York, them we’ve got another show at the Strathmore this summer.
That’s a really fun show for us. It kind of ties together even more of the roots of this music. It’s really fun to be a part of that creative, collaborative process as a band with another group. They’re an incredible group of dancers and at the helm is their founder. Her name is Eileen Carson Schatz. She’s just super passionate about the music and the dance, and loves our group. We have a lot of mutual respect for one another, occupying similar styles of music here in this region. We’re sort of covering the music side and they’ve got the dance. It’s just a really fun partnership!
That is really neat. So, you have two shows on Bluegrass Country Radio. You have “The Brad Kolodner Show,” and “Old-Time Jam.” You also had a show in college, too right?
So I studied radio and television in college. I have a minor in documentary, film, and then did a lot of TV broadcasting and radio broadcasting. That’s what I thought I was going to do when I finished college! I went to college in New York, then [when] I moved back home to the Baltimore area, I just started to pursue a career in music. I was teaching lessons, and playing concerts with my dad, and then Charm City Junction. I’ve been doing it for the past 6 years and plan to do it for the rest of my life. But in college, I always really enjoyed that other side of my career, this broadcasting side.
I did a folk radio show for a couple years, and really enjoyed just sharing some of my favorite music with folks on the radio. I really like that medium for storytelling, and for just sharing new music. I’m very fascinated by what’s on the cutting edge of the acoustic music world, whether it’s old-time, bluegrass, or Americana music. I really like to dig through some of the new releases that are out there. There’s so much great music that’s coming out these days that’s really tying together many different styles of music and so many great innovators in Americana and the acoustic music scene.
After college, I learned about a station in the DC area called Bluegrass Country, and when I found out about that station, I just immediately got in touch with them and said, “If you’re looking for a new young DJ sign me up, I’d love to do a show!” They gave me a two-hour time slot on a weekend, and I drove down there every week and did a radio show, basically just progressive bluegrass/Americana, and some old-time as well. Over the years I’ve just stuck with it and when I get off this phone call I’m actually going to start building my show for Friday! I now record the show from my house in Baltimore. I do two programs now: “The Old-Time Jam,” which focuses on contemporary old-time music. It’s not a show that focuses on the old school old-time, but the players who are out there today, keeping the music alive, taking new directions. My other show, “The Brad Kolodner Show” is on Wednesdays, and that program is kind of a mix of styles, kind of my favorite music, mostly Americana and progressive bluegrass. I bring in bands every couple weeks. As they pass through the area, I bring them into the studio and get to chat with them. It’s probably my favorite part of the show. It’s fun! I’m also on a station out in Tennessee, I got my old-time show broadcasting on Radio Bristol, so that show is syndicated a couple places. Really, it’s a ton of fun, to be able to have access to all the new roots music recordings that are coming out these days, it keeps me inspired.
It’s a great opportunity as musicians to just be fans, and just love on the music and share it.
Yeah absolutely.
You already touched on this, but I wanted to talk about your sophomore album “Duckpin,” which came out in 2018, and debuted #6 on the Billboard bluegrass chart, which is really cool. You guys went three years between records, as the self-titled debut came out in 2015. What were some of the big ways you guys evolved in those three years between records?
Well as I mentioned on the first album, we were still pretty fresh as a band. We had only been together for maybe a year or so when we finally got into the studio and recorded that album. So we were really just drawing from our various traditions. I can look back on that first record and kind of pin point who brought which song to the band. As you go down the album, you can sort of sense that there is one musician who is sort of taking the lead; clearly it is their style and we’re sort of morphing our playing to fit that. I think our first record still stands, I’m really happy with how it sounds when I listen back today, but there’s definitely more…I think it’s just more geared towards sort of featuring specific styles and specific players.
Over the years, we’ve played together more (we probably played 100 shows between that first album and our second record), and we just spent much more time together. We were becoming more diverse and versatile musicians and so when we were building up our repertoire for our second album, it’s less clear what styles of music each specific song comes from. Certainly, with more original music, we’re sort of developing a sound that’s really our sound, as opposed to like an Irish music sound or an old-time music sound or a bluegrass kind of sound. There are certain tracks that certainly have that feel (there are certain tracks that have similar to an Irish feel), but I think it’s a little bit less clear, which I think is really fun for us, because it just sounds like us. That’s the biggest difference between those two albums.
There’re some technical differences between them as well: we sing a little bit more on the new album, but we also recorded this new album down in Nashville, as opposed to our first album which was recorded here locally, on this local label called Patuxent. The new one we actually released ourselves, and [it] definitely gained a bit more traction, landing on the Billboard bluegrass chart for a couple weeks. We’re really happy with how it turned out…Since releasing it in the summer, we’ve actually only probably played maybe seven or eight shows since then. So it’s still really fresh to us! We’ll be playing a lot of that new material on our promotional circuit.
Alright, this is my last question! Thank you so much it’s been a blast. Reading over your bio a word that keeps coming up is “ambassador,” how you’re an ambassador for old-time music, and clawhammer. You also hear the band described as torchbearers, for a lot for roots music. What about this music, be it fiddle music or old-time, makes you want to be this ambassador? What makes you want to share it with others?
Well I guess part of it is just knowing how much fun we have playing this music, and how we want other people to have access to the same kind of enjoyment that we get out of the music. It’s just satisfying for me to play a concert and have a fun time, and it’s just as fun to organize a concert, or organize a local square dance or a jam and I think it’s just as much fun for me to look out in the audience and see all those folks having a fun time, either playing along in a jam or dancing at a square dance, or clapping along at a concert. That gives me just as much satisfaction: that it will be sort of carried on for years to come.
Also selfishly, I enjoy living in a town where there are lots of opportunities to experience music. When I moved back to Baltimore, I made it my mission to help grow the scene here now; so other folks can enjoy this music, but so I have more opportunities to enjoy this music myself and with the idea that other folks might be interested in that as well. We’re starting this big old-time music festival here in March, with this venue called the Creative Alliance, which is really tying together a handful of events that I’ve been a part of for the past couple years. That’s been a really fun new endeavor and I think it’s going to go really well.
In regard to being torch bearers, there’s a responsibility with tradition (especially with an aural tradition) that is passed down generation to generation…It’s just a social style of music. It’s really meant to be shared, and at its core it’s a style where you just get together with your friends to play socially. We just happen to do it onstage, and get payed for it. But I think we’re mostly engaged in this musical world because of the social component. I think without that we don’t feel as inspired, so I think as torchbearers I think it’s mostly just about bring able to share this music so that people down the road get into playing. You don’t need to be an expert, or an advance player to start strumming along on a few chords, or playing a couple tunes on the fiddle!
The Bumper Jacksons, a hot and sweet six-piece band that paints America’s story from New Orleans brothels to Appalachian hollers, comes to Harrisburg on Sunday, October 23, 2016, for a 7:30 p.m. Susquehanna Folk Music Society concert in the Abbey Bar at the Appalachian Brewing Company, 50 N. Cameron Street, Harrisburg.
The Bumper Jacksons are playfully creative with their originals and re-imagined roots music with both power and tenderness. This is a sit-down concert in a listening-room environment.
Members of the Bumper Jacksons include Jess Eliot Myhre on clarinet, vocals, and washboard, Chris Ousley on guitar and vocals, Alex Lacquement on bass, Don Samuels on drums and suitcase percussion, Dave Hadley on pedal steel guitar and Joe Brotherton on trumpet.
FOLKMAMA: The Bumper Jacksons have such a great, fun, jazzy sound. I’d like to hear a little bit about how the band came to be.
JESS: Chris, the guitar player and I started the group almost exactly five years ago. We grew to become the sextet that we are today pretty organically and slowly over time. We’ve asked lots of musicians to sit in with us over the years, either at music festivals or at house parties around the DC/Baltimore area. Slowly over time the people that we really clicked with, both musically and personally, we’ve invited to become actual band mates.
There was never a grand vision at the beginning that we would be this roosty band with bass and drums and horns and pedal steel. They happened to be the people that we enjoyed playing with that added new textures and fun sounds and nuances to the songs that Chris and I were writing.
FOLKMAMA: It’s unusual to find a pedal steel guitar player in a jazz band. I imagine that this has really allowed you to broaden your sound.
JESS: One can find pedal steel guitar players that play in jazzier ways, but no, usually people would think of the pedal steel guitar to be in country music or Hawaiian music…or of course Western Swing music would be the most apt influence for us. Often these big Western Swing bands did a lot of the same repertoire as the early jazz bands.
FOLKMAMA: So where did the name of the band come from?
JESS: We’re actually named after a dog named Bumper. A lot of dogs do this–where the sound of certain instruments will get them to chorus with you, basically howl along. And Bumper was very drawn to my clarinet. And would just howl right a long and run right up and sit next to me. We named the group after Bumper and Jacksons was the name of the people who owned him.
FOLKMAMA: You are a fabulous singer and a great improv jazz clarinet player. How did you get your start?
JESS: I grew up singing in church and I didn’t really get serious about music until after I was already out of college and I moved to New Orleans. That was in 2010 and I really fell in love with the music that I was hearing and I had a couple of great informal teachers down there that would let me sit in with their band and gave me listening homework. So I really started diving into traditional forms of music.
I learned to play clarinet in the middle school band in the Florida public school system. Then I put it down for a long time. I owned a little plastic clarinet that was still at my folk’s house in Florida and so I after I graduated from college I called my mom up and asked her to ship it to me so that I could learn the New Orleans sound on it.
FOLKMAMA: What singers do you like to listen to? Who are you most inspired by?
JESS: I really like a lot of female vocalists from the early jazz era. Ella Fitzgerald in particular is one of my favorites. Then also Lena Horn and Billy Holiday to a certain extent. Recently I’ve been getting into classic country female vocalists like Patsy Kline.
FOLKMAMA: Tell me where you get your repertoire from.
JESS: The majority of songs that one hears at a Bumper Jacksons show are either written by Chris or me. Most of it is original material. We mostly write separately although we have been experimenting over the last few months with being more collaborative.
FOLKMAMA: What should audiences expect when they come to one of your shows?
JESS: I would say in general that our shows are pretty high energy, “dancey” kinds of events, with some moments of intimate tenderness. We both like to really move people bodily, but also emotionally.
The Abbey Bar is located upstairs at the Appalachian Brewing Company, 50 N. Cameron Street, Harrisburg. The Concert begins at 7:30 PM. Tickets are $24 General Admission, $20 FOR SFMS Members, and $10 for students. Tickets are available at the door as well as through Brown Paper Tickets online or toll-free (800) 838-3006. For more information, visit the Susquehanna Folk Music Society website .
When the Quebe Sisters from Texas take a stage, and the triple-threat fiddle champions start playing and singing in multi-part close harmony, audiences are usually transfixed, then blown away. It’s because the group plays their own unique blend of Western swing, hot jazz and Texas fiddle tunes with extreme authority, energy and talent. And whether the Quebes are decked out in denims and boots or fashionably dressed to the nines, the three sisters, all in their 20s, look as good as they sound!
The Quebe Sisters will perform on Sunday, May 1st at 7:30 PM at the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of York, 925 S. George Street in York. The concert is sponsored by the Susquehanna Folk Music Society. The Quebe Sisters will be joined on stage by Simon Stipp on guitar and Daniel Parr on bass.
Concert tickets are $25 General Admission, $22 for SFMS members and $10 for students ages 3-22. Advance tickets are available online HERE, or toll-free (800) 838-3006.
For more information, visit the Susquehanna Folk Music Society website.
The interview below with Hulda Quebe was conducted by Brandon Merritt and originally published on February 18, 2016.
BRANDON: Tell us a little about the start of the Quebe Sisters, and what brought you to where you are today.
HULDA: – You know, my sisters and I first heard fiddling at a contest. And we had never heard fiddling before. And it was just like a whole new world opened up to us. My mom had always really like the violin as an instrument. So, we had kind of taken some classical lessons, and we actually quit for the summer. We weren’t that serious into it, and when we heard fiddling, it was just kind of a light bulb going on. And then I thought, “Well that looks really fun, you know, we could try that”. I remember our mom called and asked about taking some lessons with these teachers. We just started taking lessons and it was just kind of something that happened, where we started taking lessons and fiddling and I guess you could tell that we progressed pretty quickly. We started competing in contests, and that’s kind of how we got started playing music.
After we had been playing awhile individually in these contests, we all took lessons together. So, we would all kind of sit in the same room, and we also all played at the same level since we had all started together. And so it was just kind of a natural progression I think for us to work up tunes together. We were listening to a lot of different styles of music at that point, other than just fiddling, Texas-style fiddling, and things like that. So, when our teacher said, “Do you all want to work up a tune together?” it was just kind of a natural progression and just went from there.
BRANDON: What (or who) has had some of the greatest influence on your music?
HULDA: Well, definitely the Texas-style fiddle players were the first people who influenced us. Benny Thomasson, and I would say Terry Morris. Other fiddle players that you might be more familiar with, Johnny Gimble, who passed away, and we’ve got the guys who were session players, they really influenced out playing. Then we started playing country and western swing. The jazz fiddle players, we listened to a lot of that. And we also listened to a lot of western music growing up. Then we went through the other styles of music. We listened to jazz, and we listened to a lot of bluegrass too. I remember the first bluegrass band that I ever heard, that I really sat down and listened to steady was a group called Hot Rize, and they’re still going today, they’re actually awesome.
I remember vocally we had been listening to the Mills Brothers before we started singing. So, the Mills Brothers I think are to this day my favorite vocal group as far as just perfection wise. We also listened to the McGuire Sisters a lot, and we listened to the Andrews Sisters some. The biggest vocalists that I can think of that really influenced our singing were Merle Haggard, Connie Smith, and Ella Fitzgerald, all the classical singers that you can think of, we listened to everybody.
BRANDON We can see that you’ve had a lot of different influences on your music, yet you have a very unique style. How do you bring all of that together and make your sound?
HULDA: A lot of it, when we were a lot younger, our teacher was kind of crafting our arrangements and things, and we were all kind of listening to music and learning, and we would be like “Oh, we listened to…” and we would work up some tunes from that, or listen to that and see what we could learn from it. For us I think, as you can see, we listened to a lot of different types of music, and of course then we also delved into swing music and jazz. I could list all the artists from the swing era and even a few today that influence us.
Picking songs, picking arrangements – we look at our set list, we look at whether you need a slower one or a faster one, what have you been listening to, does the song hit you. We just listen to a lot of different types of things and then just kind of go, well, how does everyone feel about this song? Do you love it? And then wait for everyone else. “Have you heard this?” And most the time, we all have. That’s kind of how we go about picking our material. And also we’ll find a song that will fit our band and the vision that we have for the music, and how we want to grow to the next step.
We’re also working on original stuff. But, we haven’t put that into the set just yet, but hopefully it will be coming up real soon, so we’re really excited about that. [Editor’s note-this interview was a few months ago. I believe this has changed since then.]
BRANDON: You’ve put out three albums, the latest being Every Which-A-Way. What are some of your favorite things about putting that album together?
HULDA: I think that one of the things I really love about that album is that the vision we had going in was to record it as naturally as possible. The three of us got in one room, we got three mics, we set it up, and we recorded all of our parts live, vocals and our fiddles. That was our goal, to create something that was very natural, and that would also stand out compared to other records, and still have the same precision and quality. That’s something I’m really, I guess you could say, proud of about that album. It’s the way that we recorded it. A lot of the song selections were tunes that a lot of people had requested. A lot of our favorite arrangements and tunes we wanted to get down and record them.
BRANDON: Music is ever-changing, and all musicians and bands want to see a progression as time goes on. What are some the changes that you have seen as a group over the years?
HULDA: That’s a good question, it’s a hard question to answer. I think for us some of it is performance wise, growing our audience, getting your name out there, and going and traveling and seeing people enjoy your music, that they like it and what you’re doing and what you put your life into. You know, that’s come to fruition and people like it and enjoy it. You can actually be a professional full-time touring band and make a living off of it, and it’s really rewarding.
For us I think musically since we started out not really intending to be a band, there were a lot of things. I remember one day it was kind of like a blink and we were playing the Grand Ole Opry, and it was just very surreal. I never really considered myself, “Well, I’m a professional fiddle player at age thirteen”, because one I wasn’t, but two I was looking at music and learning and growing. When we were younger we got to do some really cool stuff – play for the President, play for Asleep At The Wheel. I remember Ricky Skaggs brought us out to the Grand Ole Opry in 2003. And there were a lot of things that happened like that. We feel really blessed that they happened. It was really crazy to think I never even dreamed…I never even really considered that this would be a dream of mine. When I played the Opry, I didn’t even know that I could dream to do that! It’s really been fun for us growing and becoming better musicians. It’s something that’s not always obvious to an audience, but there’s nights when you can tell the band just got tighter, or that was a way better show, or you had a breakthrough musically where you figured something out and had little victories.
For us vocally, we took some vocal lessons. I remember learning new information because your voice is so different than playing another instrument. It changed our lives, I remember that was a huge moment for us.
BRANDON: As the band pours itself into creating and playing music, what is it that you want listeners to take away from it, be it at a live show or a recording that they hear?
HULDA: One, I want them to take away from it that it’s good music. I truly believe that whatever you do, do it to the best of your ability. And if you’re playing music it’s just like any other art, you really want your art and your craft to be excellent. That’s one.
But I think the biggest thing for me is that people go away with it having an emotional response. They feel the sad songs, and the happy songs really truly bring them joy. And when we play live, I think one of my things is the reaction. Just last night I looked out at the audience and this lady, you I could just tell that there was a huge smile on her face and she was just grinning from ear to ear, she was having so much fun. And I thought, “That’s what makes everything we do worth while”. If you can bring someone else joy and bring a smile to their face, that’s the whole point of putting on a performance I think, to make people feel things that they wouldn’t otherwise. Having someone come up to you at the end of the show and say, “I’ve had a terrible week, I almost didn’t come tonight, but I’m so glad I did because you made me forget just how bad my week was and I just enjoyed myself so much”, that’s why we do what we do.
This interview was published on the blog “Merritt’s Mandolin Minute”. Brandon started this blog out of a love for bluegrass music, and a desire to preserve and pass it on to others. This interview was used with permission. You can view its original publication HERE.
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