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Broke Mountain Bluegrass Band

Cabin In The Hills

By Paul Paradis

Found in: | Inside | Music |

Four Corners bands come and go. But the breakup of the Broke Mountain Bluegrass Band is more akin to a big evolutionary step. Most of the Broke Mountain boys have departed the Four Corners for musical pursuits elsewhere, but Anders Beck (resonator guitar or "dobro") and Robin Davis (guitar and mandolin) have gotten together with Benny "Burle" Galloway (guitar and bass) and Rob Andrulis (keyboards) to form The Wayword Sons. This evolutionary step is exciting, and it all started in 2003 when the Broke Mountain Bluegrass Band first got together.

The Broke Mountain Bluegrass Band enjoyed a very successful reign. Two months after its formation while on an aggressive touring schedule, the band took first place in the prestigious Rockygrass Band Competition in Lyons, Colo. With the release of Cabin In The Hills in the late summer of 2004, the band took its now studio-polished skills back on the road. Cabin In The Hills is a great showcase of the bands southwest Colorado version of Appalachian mountain music. Many of the songs have an upbeat tempo with some fancy picking; most are original compositions.

One of these songs is "Reservoir Hill;" an instrumental written by Beck. Reservoir Hill is the home of the annual Four Corners Folk Festival in Pagosa Springs, Colo. The song embraces the excitement and emotion the band members must have felt during their many appearances at the festival. Another original, "Because I Can," written by Davis, a song about quitting your job and leaving your girl, hints to the restless soul: "Because I can my life don't have a plan/Try to tell me how to live this I cannot stand." The song appears to strike at the restlessness all the members in the band must have been feeling; searching to see where their musical talents could take them.

After their performances at the Four Corners Folk Festival in Pagosa Springs, September 2 - 4, 2005, the Broke Mountain boys called it quits. Cabin In The Hills will be a great memento to remember them by. Their self-proclaimed "long-term hiatus" came about from each band member's need to evolve and seek new opportunities in the music world. Travis Book took his suitcase and his bass to Nashville to form the String Dusters. Jon Stickley is now playing mandolin with The Biscuit Burners, and Andy Thorn is playing banjo with Larry Keel and his band The Natural Bridge. It isn't a stretch to say that Broke Mountain Bluegrass Band may one day be remembered as the greatest farm-team band in bluegrass history.

Meanwhile, Durango's two Broke Mountain boys offer spark to The Wayword Sons. Critically acclaimed songwriter and performer Galloway, whose influence on the popular band Yonder Mountain String Band is immense, has long awaited a band of his own to sing and perform his music. With Beck, Davis and Andrulis behind his songs, Galloway's hard-to-define sound is being played the way it is meant to be played - part folk, part bluegrass and part jam. Despite its infancy, the Wayword Sons have quickly been labeled a bluegrass supergroup.

With this sort of hype I had to see The Wayword Sons for myself. As a lover of stringed music I am more than happy to tune into and experience a new sound. So in early October I headed to Durango's Abbey Theater to check it out; the band opened for the nationally renowned Drew Emmitt Band. I arrived early and sat back in a plush leather couch in the balcony to listen. I first noticed Andrulis who, on the keys, rounded out the band's sound with steady chord playing and fine solos. Then Galloway, who was playing guitar that night, his glasses edging off the end of his nose, sang his songs with experience and remarkable poise. Beck, playing a resonator guitar, and Davis, on mandolin, traded off remarkable lead efforts. I listened intently, finding myself leaning noticeably forward - enjoying immensely what I was hearing.

Since then I have seen the Wayword Sons in Durango at J. Bo's Pizza and Rib Company, a venue the band plays on a regular basis. Members of The Wayword Sons can also be found every Monday night at The Diamond Belle Saloon. The band plans to head to Denver and cut an album with Grammy-award winner Sally Van-Meter.

A message for the rest of the Four Corners, watch out! This Durango bluegrass evolution is on the march.

Paul Paradis follows the music scene from Durango, Colo., where he is field supervisor fro Southwest Youth Corps (www.sycorps.org).