Interview with Chris Pandolfi at The Festy Experience

Chris Pandolfi (maven of the banjo for The Infamous Stringdusters) was gracious enough to provide me with some insights on the quintessential elements of bluegrass music, the integration of musical genres, and his favorite crowd.

BW: I know you are super busy so if you need to run off just let me know. In a brief summary, I was listening to some of your IMBA speech today on your blog, and if I was to write that up inside of a brief bit and then tell people how to get to the whole speech, what synopsis would you give?

CP: I can, I will also tell you that I put a brief on my blog yesterday and it is like one paragraph and it explains the basic idea. And it explains that bluegrass music is in a real good place, and it is also evolving in all these cool ways. No one should be afraid to integrate these musical worlds together for all of our mutual benefit.

BW: There was another part on your blog in which you were talking about the integrity of bluegrass- what would you say are the integral parts of bluegrass? If bluegrass were to continue to shift, what would be the parts that would still make it absolutely bluegrass?

CP: That's a good question. In the research that I did leading up to that speech I was sorta ambigous on that for a while and then I talked to this amazing ethno-musicologist guy from Nova Scotia. He wrote the book called Bluegrass, his name is Neil Rosenberg (http://www.press.uillinois.edu/books/catalog/35pyc6pm9780252072451.html). The early guys, they developed new specific techniques to play the instruments. For example, the banjo player uses three finger picks and plays these roll patterns, and the madolin player plays these um-chi-chi (making a strumming sounds), you know back beat chopping and pick sixteenth notes, you know up-down, up-down. Fiddle players play in a very specific style, double stops on slow songs. So songs and lyrical content always change to fit the times, will always reflect what's on the minds of singers, things going on, current events, ect... but what stays the same are the picking styles. And they develop and evolve over time and they change over time, but they have to. All art evolves by definition that's what it is. But that is kinda the thing to me that makes it bluegrass Whether or not you want to call it bluegrass doesn't matter; atleast it is related. That's my point. You can't deny that the Punch Brothers wouldn't be around with out it. We wouldn't be around... I mean I've studied Earl Scruggs and so has every good banjo player. That's kinda the thing that needs to stay the same.

BW: So it is the style of actually playing?

CP: I think so, yeah.

BW: So with all these evolving bands like The String Dusters, Punch Brothers, Railroad Earth, I don't mean to lump you all together, but I instead of that bluegrass label that you all receive, would there be a genre title that you would go with?

CP: We use the term high country. And you know we don't play country music per say, we play original songs, like I say. We're a bluegrass band, that's the thing about it. I mean we use the term high country because from a marketing standpoint it helps to brand yourself as something different because that the time that you reaching people that don't know anything about broader music. So, I don't know- you know the funny thing about all this and I think the reason that we are in to any of this is because dwe are a bluegrass band. And not only that but bluegrass is really just one of the coolest styles of mu sic, one of the real American styles of music. It's amazing, so many cool things about it. So that is the tricky question, I don't have the right word and it changes.

BW: But if you could choose for yourself now, you just call it high country?

CP: Yeah we'd call it high country.

BW: One of the interesting things that a few of us were talking about earlier was how comfortable and at ease bluegrass / ole time music festivals tend to be. If you could point to some things that cause the people that come to these type festivals to have a more concious, gentle culture, would you attribute that to anything in bluegrass music?

CP: In don't know. I don't know if I would make that generalization. This is not a Bluegrass festival. I mean look at Telluride Bluegrass Fetsival, there are a couple of bluegrass bands but the headliners bands like Robert Plant and Mumford and Sons. So we're trying to find a crowd of people who are concious and cool and aware of each other. People who are trying to live the good life and also there is this conservation, outdoors element that is very real for us because we have guys like Travis a mountian biker, I use to work as a fly fishing guide, we got guys who ski. You know I think there are a lot of festivals like this but they are not bluegrass festivals per say, but that's the thing, the communities are very integrated these days. You get pieces of bluegrass but these are just kinda music festivals at this point.

BW: I guess regardless of the label these days, what you guys have created here has a very different feel than lots of the other festivals these days. Lots of other festivals seem to be full of hustlers and chaos. And I wondering if there is something about y'alls style of music or intention that causes this atmosphere.

CP: I don't think it is much our style of music as it is sorta our style of life. I mean the more time that guys in the band go on, the more we figure out who we are, the more the crowd is more like us. Because we present the show that we really want to present, that really is us. You know that includes everything from looking the way that we normally look to these days, you'll see tonight, there will a lot of lights and smoke and we love that stuff. We want to put on a big show, an experience that starts the minute you buy your ticket till two weeks after the show is over. We are like a lot of bands, we sell concert tickets, we don't sell records that much. We love that- that is what this whole event is about. So we are real conscious of that and that comes out in our fans. But musically, stylistically the reality is people like me and probably you like lots of styles of music. So we want to bring this thing together. That is the common thread of this community and that's what is cool about our band. We kinda sit at the crossroads of this big acoustic scene that includes Yonder and Railroad Earth mixed with this bigger musical world that we are connecting with more and more in these recent years.

BW: Ok, I love that idea that your fans sorta become more like you as far as your lifestyle.

CP: In think so, that is a great goal anyway because you feel so at ease. The greatest success of this whole event is that I can't think of a crowd that I would rather play for. So when I go on stage at this thing, these guys are the best crowd we play for and what more could you ask for.

BW: Absolutely! I think you guys have defintely cultivated that with the local food and the appreciatiionn for the enviroment. I am really thankful for what y'all are doing here.

Now you guys colaborate with folks all the time which has been evident here atb the festival. Is there anyoine playing around these days that you would really like to collaborate with that you havben't?

CP: Specifically not necessarily. We have been so lucky to play with all of our bluegrass heroes, which has been amazing. Now last night I sat in with Toubab Krewe. I don't know man, all these bands are great- I just saw Lake Street Dive, this soul band, and now we have Emmit-Nershi band coming on and I was the first banjo player in this band for a year. So it is just family like that.

BW: I'm looking forward to seeing you guys tour with Toubab and come to LEAF. I guess what I am thinking about is in terms of bluegrass evolving is there a band even outside the bluegrass family that you would like to play with?

CP: There are so many bands I'd like to play with but no one specifically jumps to mind. But you know the string band revolution that includes Mumford and Sons and The Avett Brothers- that's a pretty amazing thing. That's a pretty amazing scene. They are taking it bigger than it has ever been before. You know I don't know.. I have so many heros. I listen to a lot of sorta electronic bands these days and we are going to the DeLuna Festival coming up and there are all kinds of cool bands. We took a band outing recently to see that guy Pretty Lights play. It's a different scene, but scene aside the show is amazing to see. His head is in a different place, he's presenting the show different, but there is a lot to learn from that. It is amazing what you can do. We are curious about trying all sorts of new things.

BW: You would be open to that?

CP: Yeah I mean that wouldn't be our ticket. We are not going to roll with a semi full of lights, but a show that has more production.

BW: Yeah that style of music is picking up a lot of steam. Could you ever see bluegrass maintaining the style that you were talking about but having room to move bluegrass into an electronics stage?

CP: Well that is kinda what String Cheese has done. There festival is like half electronica and half bluegrass. So yeah I guess the connection already sorta exist. We everything.. our band is all about a eclectic range of influences. I like everything.. movies, writing, art. And we've got guys who love all styles of music, so it's great. That is part of the strength of our band.. how eclectic our group is. Oh.. I gotta go introduce these guys (referring to the next act).

BW: Absolutely, Thank you much, and I look forward to tonight.

CP: Your very, very welcome.

Your can find Chris' keynote speech for the IBMA at: http://chrispandolfi.com/