f40 T
hat ‘zone’ is one that the band have chased since their early days in Portland, Oregon’s underground old-time music scene. The Foghorn line-up has evolved, but retained a status as modern day string band pioneers with a clutch of albums and over a decade of (interna- tional) tours under their belts, as well as an entirely new generation of musicians now following their lead.
Whilst all star turns individually, the red carpet is far from what they’re about. As Sammy explains, “All of the musical heroes in our arsenal, in our personal collections, have never won any big awards. They’ve always just been regular, good old people who have an amazing talent of playing the fiddle or singing. That connects us to a lot of musical communities. People don’t look at us the way they would some bigger country stars or bluegrass bands.”
Foghorn’s music is rooted in community – playing a key role in all of their musical upbringings and outlooks. Minnesotan Stephen ‘Sammy’ Lind is undoubtedly one of the best old-time fiddlers around, channelling tremendous respect for the old-time fiddle players he has spent countless hours learning from. Following in his father’s Doc Watson-influenced shoes, he initially picked up the gui- tar and then learned from a straight-ahead Norman Blake-style teacher, before taking up the fiddle.”
“Spider John Koerner lives in Minneapolis, who was a huge influence on the style of trad music that I got into. I went to see him perform a few times a year between the ages of thirteen and eigh- teen, and started to research his sources of tunes. I found old time music! There was a great record, a 1975 Rounder compilation called High Atmosphere that included wonderful players like Fred Cocker- ham, Wade Ward and EC & Orna Ball.”
On moving to Portland in the late ’90s, he found allies like Caleb Klauder in the old-time music community there. A Portland resident to this day, Caleb is more influenced by Southern roots music than that of his offshore childhood on Orcas Island. Whilst island life provided a musical backdrop of gatherings and parties, it wasn’t until he left to go to high school that he began playing. As a young adult, he found where his musical heart lay when he stum- bled across a mandolin and a fiddle. “I was a more adept on the mandolin right away (though I still play fiddle) and there were real- ly good fiddlers that were way ahead of me. I dropped right into this whole old-time world. Then my teacher said go to Weiser, Idaho, go to the Fiddle Championships.”
Weiser, a holy grail for old-time musicians, provides the defining moment in the genesis of Foghorn. Each June, a pilgrimage is made to The National Oldtime Fiddlers’ Contest, offering the opportunity to camp out and submit to 24-hour immersion in music.
“In the summer of 2000, Sammy and I and two other friends
(Rev PT Grover Jr (banjo) and Brian Bagdonas (bass)) had a really important little jam session at Weiser. It all just kind of clicked. There were no expectations, but the intensity of all four of us just focused it down to this thing that was bigger than us! It just had that magical balance and groove and flow. We all decided we should do some- thing when we got home to Portland.”
Which they did, adding a fifth member, and starting to play for square dances. “It’s the way you get real good!” affirms Sammy. Caleb continues: “Old Time Gatherings started up in Portland. Our old bass player Brian and some other folks started it up, essentially as ‘half way to Weiser’ event. We couldn’t wait for that long! It began as a house party, with 30 or so people coming to play tunes. Word got out and it took off. The next year there were 100 people, then 300. It created a central focus for everyone of the West Coast who was interested in old-time music. And it all snowballed for Foghorn. We started recording and travelling. Connections I had made with my old band made it easier for us to slot into the system, to get a gig here and there.”
So what is it in the water in Portland, Oregon, I wonder. Why does it have such a thriving old-time musical community?
“If you look back at Portland in the early- to mid-1990s, it was a
pretty affordable town to live in and it’s smaller than most cities on the West Coast. A lot of people moved there because it was not so big as Seattle or San Francisco, which had their own established scenes, and it just seemed like a funky, under-the-radar place with a DIY mentality. When I started playing old-time music with people there it was with other like-minded people. There were the Old Time Gatherings, all this energy with young people playing, and it just attracted more, like a magnet pulling them in.”
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