I’m usually late to the dance when it comes to bluegrass. However, it doesn’t take a genius — my good luck — to figure out that Front Country is not your ordinary bluegrass ensemble. There’s a power and an exalted fluency in their highly accomplished musicianship. Everyone in the group has had some form of high-end or classical training. In their rooftop video of “Boys of Summer” from Don Henley’s classic solo album, lead singer Melody Walker exhibits an aplomb worthy of a rock diva. Her vocal power has been described as “rafter-shaking.” The band fills in all the appropriate nuances and it’s almost easy to forget Henley’s version. I think, “Jesus, there’s nothing they can’t do!” Indeed, as they hit their stride on the Melody Walker-penned rock anthem-like title track of their latest CD, Sake of the Sound, I envision an imaginary snippet of an un-PC dialogue between certain members of U2 … Edge: “Eh… Bono, we’re gonna do a little alt-country, bluegrassy thing on this number … we’ve got this chick singer … you wanna sit down and take a load off?” It might seem like a stretch to compare Melody to Bono — not to a growing legion of fans — but after listening to the entire album and watching numerous videos, I’m convinced there’s no genre out of her (and the band’s) reach. Well … the Megadeth end of the spectrum might present a challenge… I contacted Front Country core members Melody Walker and Jacob Groopman in early December, and they filled in a few gaps in my knowledge of the band’s history. Roots Melody grew up in Martinez, Calif., a suburb of San Francisco. Her father was her earliest musical mentor and is a huge reason she became a songwriter. “I started playing the piano at my house as a toddler. My dad would set me on his lap and let me play. Then around age 5 he started showing me the basics: middle C, how to build chords, major and minor scales.” While getting a general music degree at Humboldt State University (Calif.), she studied classical voice, but also traveled to India and Brazil, exploring world music. She co-founded the women’s world fusion a cappella group AkaBella. Melody perceived that bluegrass and folk were America’s contribution to world music and, learning guitar, dove headfirst into that genre. Jacob grew up in Richmond, Va. As a youngster he began studying piano but switched to guitar at around 12 or 13. His mother’s side of the family is from the Blue Ridge Mountains area of Virginia. In his mid-teens, he learned his great-grandfather played the fiddle and banjo. Jacob inherited one of his banjos, which he has to this day. Although Jacob played in rock bands in high school and later studied jazz guitar at Oberlin College (Ohio), his interest in roots music and bluegrass intensified during his later high school years and in college. He toured extensively with the Afrobeat band Albino! and country-rockers The Real Nasty before settling into the bluegrass scene around San Francisco. The Band Evolves Jacob moved to San Francisco in 2005, where he knew many of the area’s bluegrass players. He promptly got in touch with mandolinist Adam Roszkiewicz. In 2011, banjoist Jordan Klein and Adam got an informal jam-style monthly gig at the Atlas Cafe in San Francisco. They were joined by Jacob, Leif Karlstrom on violin and Zach Sharpe on standup bass. Melody was living in northern California in the redwoods area and in 2010 moved back to San Francisco. She met Jacob, who toured with her on her 2011 solo release, Gold Rush Goddess (in 2013, they collaborated on the album We Made it Home). Melody came to the monthly gig, where she was asked to sit in and quickly became a member of the band. As Jacob put it, “none of us were fantastic singers or songwriters.” In Melody they hit the motherlode. She was both. At present, she contributes lyrics for all songs while Adam usually composes the instrumentals. Jacob helps with arranging. Colorado Gold About six months after the group formed, they worked up about six numbers and decided to enter the band competition for the 2012 Rockygrass Festival held each summer in Lyons, Colo. Some of the group had competed before. It was fingernail-biting time. The contest is first-come, first-served and they needed to use the same phone line as ticket-buyers to become one of the 12 bands selected. The group needed a name for the competition and Leif came up with “Front Country.” They won the band contest and, seeing a future as a group, released a five-song EP, This is Front Country. They followed up in 2013 with a win at the Telluride (Colo.) Bluegrass Festival — photo-op below — becoming only the third band in history to win both contests (Spring Creek was one other). Also in 2013, Melody won the Chris Austin Songwriting competition at Merlefest (Wilkesboro, N.C.) and Adam was nominated for a Grammy for his work with the Modern Mandolin Quartet on their album Americana. (In another side project, Adam and fellow band member violinist Leif Karlstrom form the duo known as Small Town Therapy.) Sake of the Sound was released in September, 2014 and can be heard in its entirety on all streaming services: YouTube, iTunes, Amazon and the band’s website. Front Country has fallen in love with Colorado, both for its vistas and the hospitality of its residents. Melody has said the song of that title on Sake of the Sound is kind of a “Dear John” letter to California. It’s achingly beautiful and certainly does the state justice. Below is a linked photo of them playing the song on “Firecracker Hill” at Telluride. The band is planning to release an album of covers in the near future. Melody assured me “Boys of Summer” would be included. Color me happy. They surprised the crowd at a festival on a recent tour in the UK with a King Crimson tune. Present Tense Front Country recently became a five-piece full-time touring band. Founding members Jordan Klein and Zach Sharpe both had day jobs and couldn’t tour steadily. New member, bassist Jeremy Darrow, is now part of the full-time ensemble. Depending on the needs of the set, banjo chores are shared by various members of the group. In 2015, the group played Grey Fox Bluegrass Festival (Oak Hill, N.Y.) for the first time. I haven’t been to Grey Fox since it left the Rothvoss farm (Ancramdale, N.Y. — sold in 2008) for the new location further north, so I missed my first chance to see Front Country live. However, the band will be playing The Rockwood Music Hall in Manhattan on Tuesday, Jan 26 at 9 p.m. on Rockwood’s Stage 1. Stage 1 means there’s NO ADMISSION. I know it’s a school night, but this is a ridiculously fabulous deal. I implore our readers to make the trip down there to see this group. For our friends in Connecticut, they’ll be at the Acoustic Cafe (2926 Fairfield Ave., Bridgeport near the Fairfield town line) on Jan. 27 at 8 p.m. Acoustic Live feels strongly that Front Country is on its way to royalty status in the roots / bluegrass / folk realm. See them up close while you have the chance. website: www.frontcountryband.com

I’m usually late to the dance when it comes to bluegrass. However, it doesn’t take a genius — my good luck — to figure out that Front Country is not your ordinary bluegrass ensemble. There’s a power and an exalted fluency in their highly accomplished musicianship. Everyone in the group has had some form of high-end or classical training. In their rooftop video of “Boys of Summer” from Don Henley’s classic solo album, lead singer Melody Walker exhibits an aplomb worthy of a rock diva. Her vocal power has been described as “rafter-shaking.” The band fills in all the appropriate nuances and it’s almost easy to forget Henley’s version. I think, “Jesus, there’s nothing they can’t do!”

Indeed, as they hit their stride on the Melody Walker-penned rock anthem-like title track of their latest CD, Sake of the Sound, I envision an imaginary snippet of an un-PC dialogue between certain members of U2 … Edge: “Eh… Bono, we’re gonna do a little alt-country, bluegrassy thing on this number … we’ve got this chick singer … you wanna sit down and take a load off?” It might seem like a stretch to compare Melody to Bono — not to a growing legion of fans — but after listening to the entire album and watching numerous videos, I’m convinced there’s no genre out of her (and the band’s) reach. Well … the Megadeth end of the spectrum might present a challenge…

I contacted Front Country core members Melody Walker and Jacob Groopman in early December, and they filled in a few gaps in my knowledge of the band’s history.

Roots

Melody grew up in Martinez, Calif., a suburb of San Francisco. Her father was her earliest musical mentor and is a huge reason she became a songwriter. “I started playing the piano at my house as a toddler. My dad would set me on his lap and let me play. Then around age 5 he started showing me the basics: middle C, how to build chords, major and minor scales.” While getting a general music degree at Humboldt State University (Calif.), she studied classical voice, but also traveled to India and Brazil, exploring world music. She co-founded the women’s world fusion a cappella group AkaBella. Melody perceived that bluegrass and folk were America’s contribution to world music and, learning guitar, dove headfirst into that genre.

Jacob grew up in Richmond, Va. As a youngster he began studying piano but switched to guitar at around 12 or 13. His mother’s side of the family is from the Blue Ridge Mountains area of Virginia. In his mid-teens, he learned his great-grandfather played the fiddle and banjo. Jacob inherited one of his banjos, which he has to this day. Although Jacob played in rock bands in high school and later studied jazz guitar at Oberlin College (Ohio), his interest in roots music and bluegrass intensified during his later high school years and in college. He toured extensively with the Afrobeat band Albino! and country-rockers The Real Nasty before settling into the bluegrass scene around San Francisco.

The Band Evolves

Jacob moved to San Francisco in 2005, where he knew many of the area’s bluegrass players. He promptly got in touch with mandolinist Adam Roszkiewicz. In 2011, banjoist Jordan Klein and Adam got an informal jam-style monthly gig at the Atlas Cafe in San Francisco. They were joined by Jacob, Leif Karlstrom on violin and Zach Sharpe on standup bass.

Melody was living in northern California in the redwoods area and in 2010 moved back to San Francisco. She met Jacob, who toured with her on her 2011 solo release, Gold Rush Goddess (in 2013, they collaborated on the album We Made it Home). Melody came to the monthly gig, where she was asked to sit in and quickly became a member of the band. As Jacob put it, “none of us were fantastic singers or songwriters.” In Melody they hit the motherlode. She was both. At present, she contributes lyrics for all songs while Adam usually composes the instrumentals. Jacob helps with arranging.

Colorado Gold

About six months after the group formed, they worked up about six numbers and decided to enter the band competition for the 2012 Rockygrass Festival held each summer in Lyons, Colo. Some of the group had competed before. It was fingernail-biting time. The contest is first-come, first-served and they needed to use the same phone line as ticket-buyers to become one of the 12 bands selected. The group needed a name for the competition and Leif came up with “Front Country.” They won the band contest and, seeing a future as a group, released a five-song EP, This is Front Country. They followed up in 2013 with a win at the Telluride (Colo.) Bluegrass Festival — photo-op below — becoming only the third band in history to win both contests (Spring Creek was one other).

Also in 2013, Melody won the Chris Austin Songwriting competition at Merlefest (Wilkesboro, N.C.) and Adam was nominated for a Grammy for his work with the Modern Mandolin Quartet on their album Americana. (In another side project, Adam and fellow band member violinist Leif Karlstrom form the duo known as Small Town Therapy.)

Sake of the Sound was released in September, 2014 and can be heard in its entirety on all streaming services: YouTube, iTunes, Amazon and the band’s website.

Front Country has fallen in love with Colorado, both for its vistas and the hospitality of its residents. Melody has said the song of that title on Sake of the Sound is kind of a “Dear John” letter to California. It’s achingly beautiful and certainly does the state justice. Below is a linked photo of them playing the song on “Firecracker Hill” at Telluride.

The band is planning to release an album of covers in the near future. Melody assured me “Boys of Summer” would be included. Color me happy. They surprised the crowd at a festival on a recent tour in the UK with a King Crimson tune.

Present Tense

Front Country recently became a five-piece full-time touring band. Founding members Jordan Klein and Zach Sharpe both had day jobs and couldn’t tour steadily. New member, bassist Jeremy Darrow, is now part of the full-time ensemble. Depending on the needs of the set, banjo chores are shared by various members of the group.

In 2015, the group played Grey Fox Bluegrass Festival (Oak Hill, N.Y.) for the first time. I haven’t been to Grey Fox since it left the Rothvoss farm (Ancramdale, N.Y. — sold in 2008) for the new location further north, so I missed my first chance to see Front Country live. However, the band will be playing The Rockwood Music Hall in Manhattan on Tuesday, Jan 26 at 9 p.m. on Rockwood’s Stage 1. Stage 1 means there’s NO ADMISSION. I know it’s a school night, but this is a ridiculously fabulous deal. I implore our readers to make the trip down there to see this group. For our friends in Connecticut, they’ll be at the Acoustic Cafe (2926 Fairfield Ave., Bridgeport near the Fairfield town line) on Jan. 27 at 8 p.m.

Acoustic Live feels strongly that Front Country is on its way to royalty status in the roots / bluegrass / folk realm. See them up close while you have the chance.

website: www.frontcountryband.com