OLD-TIME AMERICAN FIDDLE TUNES AND SONGS

Foghorn Stringband plays a blend of high-spirited Appalachian dance music tying in sounds of traditional mountain fiddle tunes.

Sammy Lind, after an hour of sleep, crawled out of his sleeping bag, and scrambled to find his sunglasses. His hand instead found a bramble of "Goatheads" a stubborn variety of desert thorns that plagued the dry ground. He spit out some profanities as he dug the thorns out of his palm, tossed the glasses onto his face to shield him from the relentlessly hot desert sun. Sleep was hopeless. He cracked open a can of energy drink and took a swig of its penicillin popsicle flavor. With his hangover, the flavor of the energy drink alone was too much, so he emptied the contents of a flask into the can, filling the un-likely mixture to the top. The drink hit the spot. The whiskey soothed his head, while the caffeine gave him strength to pick up his fiddle. Thus the popular drink "The Weiser Sunrise" was born.

The fiddling brought to life the neighboring hung-over musicians, and a surly yet smiling string band formed, and began to pound out some driving mountain tunes. All day and late into the night this music persisted.

The energy of that serendipitous band that formed in those days stuck with the fellas. They knew there was more to the music than the product of heat, sleep depravation and sleazy cocktails. Something clicked out there in that thorn ridden vacant lot behind the Weiser, Idaho National Old-Time Fiddler's Festival.

So when Caleb Klauder (of Calobo) got on the phone a few months later to round up the said group, everybody thought it would be a fine idea. The band has been building on that initial inspiration ever since. Along with Caleb's powerful vocals, he adds driving, biting rhythm and melody on mandolin and guitar. The Rev. P.T. Grover (of Pig Iron) adds a steady machine-gun claw hammer banjo, as well as his own 3 finger style that leaves folks scratching their heads trying to figure out whether it sounds more like old Bluegrass or Old-Time-Mountain style. Kevin Sandri (The Crooked Jades and the Bristol Sisters) hits the guitar hard inbetween playful and innovative bass runs. Brian Bagdonas (of The Dickel Brothers) provides rocking foundation on the up-right bass. And of coarse the aforementioned Stephen "Sammy" Lind, (of Pocket Lumber from
Minneapolis) who aside from his resourcefulness in cocktail mixing leads the band with powerful high-octane fiddling that constantly takes the band to a new level. So hold on tight, grab yourself a "Weiser Sunrise" and enjoy the Old-Time Tunes and Songs of Foghorn Stringband.

Foghorn Stringband is: Stephen "Sammy" Lind - Fiddle Caleb Klauder - Mandolin Brian Bagdonas - Upright Bass Kevin Sandri - Acoustic Guitar PT Grover JR - Banjo

www.foghornmusic.com

Check out this review in the Willamette Week...

3_Leg_Torso - Amelia - Ashleigh_Flynn - Caleb_Klauder - Casey_Neill - Dylan_Thomas_Vance - Flat_Mountain_Girls - Foghorn_Stringband - Johnny_B._Connolly - Kitchen_Syncopators - Richmond_Fontaine - Timothy_Hull - Vagabond_Opera

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