VIDEO – Nothing goes together quite so well as farmers’ markets and bluegrass music, so when this year’s Fall Fair stage organizers were booking acts, Powell River’s Scout Mountain was top of the list.
The band came together in the middle of winter in 2009 and started practicing at mandolin player Max Pagani and fiddle player Monica Behan Pagani’s Wildwood home. “We actually do play right at the base of Scout Mountain,” said Monica.
“It just sounded like a good name for a bluegrass band,” said Bill Smith who plays banjo and sings in the five-piece band. Dylan Jolie plays guitar and sings high harmonies and Pam Huber keeps the band in time laying down the low end with her double bass.
Smith describes the band’s sound as traditional bluegrass inspired by Doyle Lawson and Bill Monroe, “with lots of harmonies, bluegrass picking and just a good time.”
The band huddles close on stage to sing together into a single microphone.
It played an hour-long set at the fair, hosted by Powell River and District Agricultural Association, on Sunday, September 22.
Huber said that they try to take music that is more familiar to listeners and “bluegrass it up. The songs come from everywhere,” she said. “We actually don’t do a whole pile of traditional old-timey ones.”
Monica added that the music they play is “pretty eclectic.”
Bluegrass music, like jazz, has been called a true American music genre. Formed in the 1940s out of the three-finger banjo picking sound of Earl Scruggs and Bill Monroe’s “high and lonesome vocals,” the genre takes its name from Monroe’s “The Bluegrass Boys,” Smith explained. Any band after that influenced by Monroe’s sound was called bluegrass. In recent years, the genre has become increasingly popular internationally with festivals in Europe and Japan.
“It’s growing leaps and bounds,” said Smith. “Powell River is not a huge bluegrass area per se, but we’re doing our best to spread it around.”
The band plays local shows at varied venues from restaurants and pubs to markets and extended care facilities for the elderly throughout the year. It tries to attend three or four BC bluegrass festivals in the summer. Next summer, the band is already booked to play the Coombs Bluegrass Festival on Vancouver Island during the August long weekend.
“We tend to really lay into the new material during the winter,” said Smith, adding that this winter the band is planning on also writing more original tunes and recording an album. Filmmaker Peter Harvey has been brought on board to film some performances.
The band continues to not only tighten its sound, but also its image.
“We’re saving up for suits,” said Max, as a nod to the old bluegrass bands that wore matching suits and ties.
Smith added, “The old bands from Tennessee used to be just spotless with the same suits and hats.”
“It’s fun,” said Huber. “It makes us tighter to be all dressed the same. We walk out in the crowd and we’re a band.”
For more information, readers can visit Scout Mountain’s website www.scoutmountainbluegrassband.ca or on Facebook.
Fall Fair 2013 - Scout Mountain from Powell River Peak on Vimeo.
