by Laura "Spunky" McGaughey(Originally published in the March 2009 issue of Pow'r Pickin' magazine, the official publication of the Colorado Bluegrass Music Society.)
In the mid-1970s, Pete Wernick was drawn to the music scene in Colorado. A buzz had spread among musicians traveling throughout the country, from the East Coast to the West Coast, about what was going on in Denver. He left his home in New York State to check it out and found himself in Harry Tuft's Denver Folklore Center, the hub of everything that was going on in the strong folk/bluegrass music community along the Front Range.
Wernick met Charles Sawtelle, who worked the main counter at the Center and repaired instruments, Nick Forster, who also did repairs, and Tim O'Brien, who taught classes. Wernick began teaching at the Center as well, and they all hung out and struck up friendships that led to the band's formation.
"Hot Rize exists because the Denver Folklore Center exists. We were involved in music making and teaching, and the shows we did there and the community that surrounded the Center was a big help in launching us," Wernick recalls. Likewise, Tuft says that one of the greatest things that ever came out of his establishment of the Center was the fact that Hot Rize met and formed through their work at the Center.
In 1979, when Swallow Hill Music Association was established out of the growth of the community the Center fostered, Wernick's membership card was one of the first issued by Swallow Hill. "I think mine was #0002 or something," he smiles.
Hot Rize marked their 30th anniversary on January 18, 2008, while Swallow Hill will celebrate its 30th birthday this March. Wernick says, "We're very dear to each other, with a long history and much shared. Swallow Hill is a keeper, or trustee, of harnessing the music scene. For both of us to have survived all these years--it's something deep and lasting--it's a treasure."
On March 28 at 6 p.m. the Third Annual RootsFest, produced by Swallow Hill at the Ellie Caulkins Opera House at the Denver Center for the Performing Arts, will feature some buzzworthy up-and-coming acts in addition to three headliners, with Hot Rize leading the pack. Shawn Colvin and Leo Kottke co-headline, with showcases by Tallest Man on Earth, Gandalf Murphy and the Slambovian Circus of Dreams, Joe Pug, and Boulder Acoustic Society. Tickets have been selling at a brisk pace.
The long ties between Hot Rize, Swallow Hill and the Denver Folklore Center made the decision of playing the RootsFest a no-brainer for Wernick and the rest of Hot Rize. It "instantly made sense to us," Wernick says.
Hot Rize's legendary career is based on delivering first-class entertainment and musicianship. The band toured full-time from 1978 - 1990, winning over fans of all ages and rising to prominence, hitting everywhere from national broadcasts such as NPR's "A Prairie Home Companion" and the Nashville Network's "Ralph Emery Show," to performances in almost every state, as well as Europe, Japan and Australia. Their album, Take It Home,garnered a Grammy nomination as well as the IBMA award for Song of the Year, for "Colleen Malone."
In 1990, the band semi-retired while everyone worked on their own projects, but they came together from time to time to make appearances as Hot Rize. Wernick had a successful solo debut with On a Roll in 1993 and formed the Live Five, an innovative bluegrass/early jazz band, later renamed Flexigrass. Nick Forster went on a highly successful tour in Eastern Europe, where he developed a new concept in radio and Etown, the popular weekly radio variety show now heard coast-to-coast, was the result. Tim O'Brien developed a huge discography as a solo act as well as an ensemble player, and was named by the IBMA as the Male Vocalist of the Year in 1993. Charles Sawtelle joined forces with Peter Rowan and also formed his own band, The Whippets. He recorded and toured with various groups in the U.S. and overseas and also produced some excellent records by a variety of different bluegrass and folk artists.
In 1993 Sawtelle was diagnosed with leukemia, but it didn't stop him from working in his studio, Rancho de Ville, and making great music. Alongside close friend Laurie Lewis, Music from Rancho de Ville, a 16-track compilation of music featuring an array of top drawer musicians including David Grisman, Peter Rowan, Jerry Douglas, Sam Bush and many others, was made. In the wake of his passing in 1999, Lewis saw the project through to its release.
Hot Rize did not perform for three years after Sawtelle's passing but regrouped in 2002 with Bryan Sutton on guitar. Sawtelle's beloved studio equipment was bequeathed to Swallow Hill, and the Sawtelle Recording Studio, dedicated to helping musicians record their material at a low cost, was born. It was "a relief to have an obvious place Charles could smile upon," Wernick says, and it "meant a lot to a lot of people that he could carry on through this."
As RootsFest approaches, so does the 10-year mark of Sawtelle's passing, lending poignancy to the event, to the bonds that exist within the large community that has sprung out of the Denver Folklore Center, Swallow Hill, Hot Rize and the fans of the music and its meaning. These are "things that are worth preserving," Wernick says. With any luck, the community base of Swallow Hill will continue to thrive, and great bands like Hot Rize can inspire other up-and-coming musicians to carry on the tradition and make it their own.
For more information and tickets to RootsFest, visit www.SwallowHillMusic.org or call 303-777-1003 x2.
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment