‘Pickin’ in the Park’ brings Front Range bluegrassers to Story
On Wednesday, August 7th, the Bozeman Folklore Society once again joins forces with Bozeman Parks and Recreation to present a unique and entertaining evening of acoustic music in the elegant and historic Story Mansion as part of its “Pickin’ in the Park” series. This summer edition of the popular showcase will feature the talents of Colorado-based bluegrass band Masontown.
The delightful evening of music and fellowship will begin at 6:30pm with an informal, pre-show gypsy jazz set featuring members of Masontown and local ensemble Montana Manouche. Refreshments will be served. Masontown will follow with their indoor performance at 7:30pm.
Visiting the Treasure State for a number of regional shows, the Rolling Zone spoke with Masontown fiddler and founding member Natalie Padilla about the band’s varied influences and how fusing its members’ backgrounds produces a wholly original sound still in line with tradition.
Rolling Zone: Bringing along its ‘bluegrass from Colorado’s Front Range,’ Mastontown will get the month of August started with a handful of Montana performances. At the most fundamental level, who exactly is this group?
Natalie Padilla: We’ve been to Montana twice before, [but] we’ve added a banjo player since. Sam Armstrong-Zickefoose has been playing with us for about a year and a half, which is fun, and our sound is a little bit more full. It gives us a little more flexibility to do different things on our instruments. Other than that, we have the same personnel: Bradley Morse on bass, Mike Canney on mandolin and Eric Wiggs on guitar. Last time we were in Montana, Eric broke his hand right before tour so we had a sit-in guitar player, but we’ll have Eric this time – as far as we know [laughs].
RZ: Do you think the live show conveys the personalities of its members?
NP: We come from a lot of different backgrounds. Eric and Bradley have a lot more jazz in theirs, Mike grew up playing bluegrass. Sam is just the goofiest, happiest guy you’ll ever meet and that definitely comes across in his banjo playing. It’s hard to watch Sam and not smile when he plays, so he’s been such a fun addition to the band. We all have different day jobs, too, so it’s always fun to come together. We’re fairly eclectic with the kind of music we do. We will throw a few bluegrass originals in, but you’ll often hear some jazz influence, a little bit of funk sometimes. It’s fun for us to switch it up, and I think for the audience too.
RZ: The local show is part of Bozeman Folklore’s ‘Pickin’ in the Park’ series, which affords its acts the historic setting of the Story Mansion. Do you think playing this sort of venue elevates the performance and/or the audience’s experience?
NP: I do. We played the Story Mansion a couple years ago when we were in town and just really enjoyed playing there. It’s the right amount of people, and it is a listening show but it’s not as formal as finding your row and seat. And I grew up in Bozeman, so I’ve always liked the Story Mansion. This year we’re actually adding a kind of pre-show hangout on the lawn just because it’s such a great area, and there will be some live music as well.
RZ: Founded in 2015, Masontown has released a self-titled EP and full-length follow-up, In This Time. With a new EP on the way, have you noticed an evolution since these musicians came together some four years ago?
NP: Yes, there definitely has been a little bit of an evolution. I say that with hesitation because some of [what’s on] the new EP are things we’ve been playing for a long time that people tend to like, but we’ve never recorded. The more we play we do kind of find we’re not just a hard-driving bluegrass band, that’s not quite our sound anyways. I think our strengths are a lot more in our sound and how we play our instruments. We’re not just all about bluegrass, all the time.
RZ: What can you share about the new tunes you’ve been working on?
NP: It’s a 7-track EP and they’re actually all covers from [different] genres – there’s a Bob Dylan song, there’s an old-time song, there’s a traditional bluegrass song. With this one, we’re trying to show off more of our arrangements instead of the songwriting and tunewriting. We’re going to have physical copies on the tour and you’ll definitely hear some of the songs at the show. And then, since the whole music age is in a changing state, we’re going to release a few singles gradually and I think the whole album will be out early 2020.
RZ: In This Time features a mix of revamped traditional tunes and Masontown originals. How does the writing process look for you guys?
NP: Some bands have a lot of cooks in the kitchen. I write a fair amount of songs and Mike writes a lot of our tunes, but I wouldn’t say either of us are the kind of writers that just pump them out. We do occasionally try to work together and write something new. For some bands that just happens all the time, but in ours it’s a little more rare. Since we don’t have a lot of songwriters in the band, we do tend to take older melodies or poems and just try to re-work the music and the arrangement to make it sound like a new tune.
RZ: Citing influences like Bill Monroe and the Matt Flinner Trio, as well as Cahalen Morrison and Eli West, how do you think Masontown borrows from these and other artists in creation of its own original sound?
NP: We take a lot of care and pride in the harmony singing, so you’ll hear a lot of duo, even three-part harmonies. As far as the tradition of bluegrass, we do try to make sure that when we play a bluegrass tune, we take care to note the way it’s been done. We’re not trying to reinvent the wheel in that way, just want to be able to play a simple melody really well. And the Flinner Trio, they’ve got a lot of jazz influence, so we do have a few tunes that might have a really strange chord progression out of nowhere. Like, ‘Whoa. Where’d that come from? Those aren’t bluegrass chords.’ [laughs]
RZ: Aside from the group, and probably like a few of your bandmates, you’re also a solo musician. With your sophomore release, Fireweed, out at summer’s end, how does your solo material differ from the Masontown catalog? What do you think it retains?
NP: We do a couple songs from my first solo album and a couple from the second one as well, so some of it does overlap. Both are pretty much all original music so it’s a little bit more of me trying to showcase the tunewriting. My upcoming album’s a lot more in the old-time vein and my original voice is a lot more simple. I don’t tend to put bridges in my songs, I don’t put jazz chords. I write a lot of my music on the clawhammer banjo which is a pretty old-timey, simple instrument. And I kind of like that it has those limitations. So, there’s definitely some crossover, but the overall sound of [Fireweed] is very old-time string band – which we do for a couple songs here and there in our sets, but we’re not an old-time band by any means.
RZ: Maybe you’ll have a few advance copies of that at the show as well?
NP: Yeah, I definitely will. They let me put some on the table. They’re nice. [laughs]
RZ: You also keep busy as an educator, giving fiddle and violin lessons in private settings and at camp retreats. Can you reconcile how differing styles have converged in your life as a professional musician?
NP: I grew up playing a lot more Texas-style, kind of bluegrass stuff, as well as classical. I still do a little classical music here and there, but as I got older, I got really into Irish music at one point and I’ve been really into old-time stuff in the last 5ish to 10 years. People hear you play these different things, then come to me specifically to learn Irish fiddle or old-time or bluegrass. I really try to learn as much as I can about a style, all the nuances. Certain camps might ask if you can teach bluegrass fiddle this week, or sometimes you get to do whatever you want. Some camps are more kid-heavy, some camps are adults-only, some are big, some are small, some are mixed. It’s fun to have that variety. And then I do the folk and bluegrass program at the University of Northern Colorado, so that’s fun to see it in the world of academia as well.
RZ: You’ve got Fireweed coming out in September and Masontown has the new EP. What’s coming up after the Montana shows for the band?
NP: We have a lot of fall shows lined up in Colorado, and that can be a good or bad thing. There is a huge scene and there’s a lot of venues spread between Fort Collins and Colorado Springs, but you don’t want to play too often because then people won’t come out to your shows. So, we haven’t been playing very many local shows and we’re going to kind of reemerge in the fall with these new tunes.
RZ: In the meantime, we’re glad Masontown is returning for a visit! A final message before we see you at the Story?
NP: We’re pretty eclectic as far as acoustic bands go. I would say keep an open mind and you might find something you like. We have a lot of fun on stage, so you can expect a fun evening of acoustic music! Coming back to the area for the third time, we’re hoping to see some familiar faces.
Advance tickets to Masontown’s Aug. 7th Story Mansion show are $23 at Cactus Records and www.cactusrecords.net (plus fees). Day of show tickets will also be available at the door for $25, depending on availability. The Story is located at 811 S Willson Ave. in Bozeman.
Additional performances during the Montana tour include Helena’s Myrna Loy on Aug. 1st, The Celtic Cowboy in Great Falls on Aug. 2nd, Cisel Hall at MSU-Billings on Aug. 6th, Emigrant’s Follow Yer’ Nose BBQ on Aug. 8th and Missoula’s Longstaff House on Aug. 11th. Select shows are ticketed events. See the Masontown website for further details.
Learn more about the band at www.masontownmusic.com or find them on Facebook and Instagram for updated tour details and other announcements. Their latest album, In This Time, is out now. Follow-up EP, Age, will be available for purchase in advance at the Montana shows.
Take a closer look at Natalie’s solo projects by visiting www.nataliepadillamusic.com, where you can also pre-order Fireweed. The new album officially releases Sept. 6th but will also be available during the Montana tour.
Bozeman Folklore Society is an all-volunteer nonprofit organization dedicated to promoting, preserving, enjoying, and sharing the music, dance, arts, crafts, and skills of traditional cultures. Please visit www.bozemanfolklore.org for all upcoming BFS concert and dance information. •
