Various Artists – Tradition in transition
The Mammals’ other primary songwriter, Tao Rodriguez-Seeger, has his own plans for the time off, having issued a six-song EP with The Anarchist Orchestra, a sort of politically-oriented groove-trad-rock band featuring Mammals bassist Jake Silver as well as fiddler Laura Cortese and drummer Robin MacMillan. (Cortese is a seemingly ubiquitous presence on the New England string scene, releasing her own solo material, working with the bands Halali and the Jolly Bankers, and occasionally playing upright bass with Uncle Earl.)
Though the Mammals’ hiatus was spurred primarily by the birth of Ungar and Merenda’s baby, it was something the band had considered for their own reasons as well. “We were definitely talking about it,” Rodriguez-Seeger says. “I think any band that’s been together for a good long while reaches a point where they just have to take a break.”
Ungar concurs. “I just think it’s a really healthy move,” she says. “Although, of course, it’s a ridiculous business move for the band. I don’t think our booking agent thought it was a great move….But having the baby was the most important aspect of it. And I think most people understand that.”
A year-long hiatus could conceivably lead to a more permanent splintering of the group, particularly if one of the various side-projects turns out to be particularly fruitful. But at least for now, all parties expect the Mammals to reunite next year. “That’s the plan,” Rodriguez-Seeger says. “I mean, I think we’ve got a lot of music that we have left to explore. We haven’t really done everything that we set out to do yet. Got a lot of songs that we’ve got to write. There’s still a lot of wars to complain about.”
Andreassen perhaps best sums up the present status of both the Mammals and Uncle Earl. “I think we’re all trying to take the time and branch out creatively — to do something maybe even that’s not going to pay for awhile,” she says. “It’s more like, where’s our heart, what can we do that’s really us, that’s really different from what we’ve been doing?”
STEPPIN’ OUT
Indeed, the one condition that seems to apply to just about everyone in this string-band community at present is the desire to do something different from what they’ve been doing. Just as most of the flagship alt-country bands of the mid-’90s largely retreated from the more roots-oriented aspects of their music toward a mode that stressed songwriting and innovation, so are the string bands transitioning from their trad foundations toward original material and musical experimentation.
“We’re all in these bands with that are supposed to be in some way traditional, and so there’s something really nice when you do something that’s not,” Ungar suggests. “I know Mike was talking about that recently with Kristin, about how, right now, all these traditional musicians are doing more ‘art’ music, and that it’s some sort of a trend. And Mike was saying that from his perspective, the string-band thing was a trend — like, he’s always been more into the art music and the songwriting.”
Part of this realization is a matter of the musicians accepting that, in many cases, their own personal musical roots may indeed run toward other forms beyond the string-band realm. In the case of Dave Wilson, leader of the North Carolina bluegrass-leaning band Chatham County Line, he came to traditional music from the background of playing rock ‘n’ roll with the band Stillhouse (whose members included Johnny Irion, a late-’90s bandmate of the Mammals’ Tao Rodriguez-Seeger in the group RIG).
As Chatham County Line has progressed, they’ve come to appreciate the value that their non-bluegrass interests can potentially bring to their music, which has resulted in a more broad-ranging sound on their new disc IV (released March 4 on Yep Roc).
“When we were making our first record, we were still trying to be the Del McCoury Band,” Wilson explains. “And then, through the subsequent records, we started to realize that we might not be the best instrumentalists, and also that the songs that were being written aren’t always served by that same treatment.”
Virginia band King Wilkie expressed similar sentiments in an interview with Barry Mazor for an article in ND #70 last summer. “Initially, we really aimed ourselves toward trying almost to put ourselves in that Bill Monroe era — intentionally pursued it,” says mandolinist/keyboardist Reid Burgess. “That was really fun, and we worked at it for a long time. It was what we were doing best for a while. But once we started letting other musical ideas and songs in, there was no stopping it, and I said, ‘We have to keep doing this.'”
The Duhks’ upcoming album looks to be another link in this chain-reaction. Podolak notes that new singer Sarah Dugas contributed four original songs to the record, even though “we didn’t recruit her as a songwriter.” He adds that nine of the album’s eleven tracks are originals, “which is really exciting for us. I feel like we’re really maturing; we’re stepping up to the plate a bit more.
“We’re not relying on the tradition. We’re certainly incorporating it; nothing sounds like we came at this totally on our own in terms of who we are as musicians. It’s still obvious that we’re pickers and that we love folk music — but it’s also, yeah, we can take this inspiration and instead of just doing traditional music, we can incorporate it into our own stuff.”
Andreassen, whether with Sometymes Why or in her solo efforts or on future Uncle Earl adventures, can feel a similar dawning. “I like the limits of old-time and traditional music, but what if you strip those away and say, ‘What would I do if I could do anything?’ That might mean taking more of an indie-rock or singer-songwriter approach. So I think exploring that is a phase that a lot of our bands are in.