The Infamous Stringdusters

Our story begins a few weeks ago. On the way back up to school after Thanksgiving, we stumbled upon a bluegrass station in the middle of nowhere Wisconsin. Enjoying the music immensely, it sparked our interest in digesting as much as we could. This lead us to come across the renown bluegrass act The Infamous Stringdusters (IS from now on) who were playing at our favorite venue in town, the Cedar Cultural Center the next Friday.

The sextet are Nashville vets and showcase raw talent honed by years of experience in the industry. The members have played with the likes of Earl Scruggs, Dolly Parton, Charlie Daniels, Vanessa Carlton, Lee Ann Womack, Bobby Osborne, and Chris Jones to name a few. They feature acoustic guitar, mandolin, upright bass, fiddle, dobro, and banjo with three of them being vocalists.

Dave and I went to see them at the CCC (where Dave got a free ticket, I might add. Bastard.) and were simply blown away. We both have this tendency, because of our diverse musical appreciation and general ADD predispositions, to become bored easily at concerts. We braced ourselves for a similar effect at this event, stipulating that there's only so much you can do with acoustic instruments within the rigid contexts of bluegrass music. Needless to say, we were completely wrong.

What we heard was a diverse range of traditional sounding bluegrass tunes, to very modern, sometimes rock-esque, jazz-esque tunes, still located within the bluegrass blueprint, rounded out by some of the sickest musicianship we've ever heard. Each and every member of the band, with the possible exception of the upright player because honestly, he's not allowed to do anything in bluegrass, were virtuousos the likes of which we had rarely seen. The interaction and obvious love of their craft between members completed the utter sensory overload we experienced in their blistering one-hour set.

So more or less what I'm saying to you is, you need to check these guys out. They've recorded two albums, 2007's Fork in the Road, and this year's critically acclaimed self-titled release. Both of which, and I'm sorry to say this, can't really hold a candle to the live experience of more improvised and extended solo's, and just the general wall of sound (I know it may be hard to picture this for a bluegrass band but it's true) that these guys produce in person. Not to sound like the end-all-be-all of music, but I don't get blown away everyday by an act, but these guys did me in. Check them out below:

The Infamous Stringdusters Official Website

Why I cannot write songs: Get your water-wings on

Why I cannot write songs:

This is a complex issue. I like to think myself a creative person. I mean, sometimes I can come up with ideas that I fashion to be original. They very well may not be. That is not the point though. I will be addressing the abstract, intangible reasons as to why I cannot write songs as opposed to things like, I can't play the piano that well. Those are things you can learn. My real limitations as a songwriter are as follows:

Songwriting takes a certain brashness, a consistent shoot-from-the-hip mentality. If your truly going to spill your soul for the world, you had better not be ashamed of what you have to say or how it's going to sound. This blind confidence, regrettably, is not something I display a large majority of the time.

There is another aspect to songwriting that makes it difficult for me. For a lot of people, songwriting is a bloody process. It takes a lot of sweat and tears for these people who sit down and force themselves to write. Although an entirely valid and often highly successful method for these people, this, I cannot do. I feel as though me forcing myself upon new songs makes them inherently limited. When I sit down and "force" myself to write, nothing comes out. Literally it is writers block of the most sophisticated form. I feel as though each word, no, each letter I write down, must change the world. No song can be written from this disposition. For me, though I'm sure I've just convinced myself of this, I can only fully pursue a new song idea if it comes in a moment of overwhelming inspiration. These moments, again regrettably, are few and far between for me.

So here I lie at a crossroads. Do I force myself to write for the simple reason of just practicing getting my thoughts down on a page? Or can I really not ever writing anything worthwhile that doesn't just come pouring out of my soul? How can I get over my mentality that everything I write has to drop the Pope to his knees in tears? These are questions I still need to explore.

So I suppose the title of this blog is a little misleading. I intend on getting to the bottom of this conundrum, because I desperately want to capture moments in my life in song. Maybe I could write a song about my songwriting predicament...

In other news, for those of you who haven't seen, our President has some buck-nasty reflexes. I may not be his biggest fan but I'd definitely pick him on my dodgeball team. Check it.

The Jeanna Salzer Trio

To those who are always looking to find the next big thing, just ahead of the rest of the curve, I will cue you in on a little secret. This past July, Dave and I had the pleasure of working with three ridiculously talented musicians who call themselves the Jeanna Salzer Trio. Comprised of Alex Bunke on drums (Carter Beauford II), Harrison Dole on bass (The Fifth Beatle) and, you guessed it, Jeanna Salzer on keys and lead vocals, it was safe to say Dave and I were in over our heads.

We recorded them with our semi-portable set-up on a whim at Dave's church. They laid down 8 songs in one evening. Now, I don't know how familiar you all are with the recording process, but the records you hear on the radio usually take months if not years to complete. Not only did this band lay down tight, groovy instrumentals in one evening but Jeanna did all the vocals in one take. This would be quite a feat in and of itself if she were singing DO RE MI for each song. Instead, she sang some of the most soulful, complex but tasteful vocal runs I've ever heard. Doing this all in one take is literally unheard of and Dave and I were completely blown away by her voice.

Their songs span a wide landscape of musical stylings, all centered around an ever present pop-sensibility. The chemistry that we felt in the room as they were laying down the tracks, (hopefully) comes through loud and clear on the recording. The record has an incredibly organic feel to it that allows each song to breathe as if you were sitting there with them as they played it.

So for those looking to up their indie cred, (something that should be everyone's quest at all times) check out the Jeanna Salzer Trio for some music that just plain makes you feel good.

Jeanna Salzer Trio Myspace Page:
www.myspace.com/jeannasalzer

Jeanna Salzer Trio on Facebook:
www.new.facebook.com/home.php#/pages/Jeanna-Salzer-Trio/21620194025

I have a blog.

Well, I caved.

I used to think that only yuppies sitting on their Mac's at Starbucks were people with blogs, writing about their resentment of mainstream pop culture, while paradoxically feeding into it. But upon further inquiry, I found that this is not the case at all.

So, I caved and made one for myself.

This blog will most likely mirror my personal blog on my band apollo's website, www.apollorocks.com, in attempt to serve as an outlet for thoughts musical and otherwise. The information age at work. Enjoy.

PS - I'm writing this on my mac. Maybe I've become what I feared.