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other. To me that’s the most important thing. Early on, our original banjo player and I were sitting around and he said: ‘Sammy, I don’t care how good you are on that fiddle, if you ain’t fun to hang out with, fuck off!’ That really stuck with me! And every time I met him after I made sure I had a six-pack of beer!”

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It is through this natural affinity with people and music that the line-up has easily evolved over the years. The final two current mem- bers, who add their own musical personalities and repertoire, came to the group in a similarly organic process.

Reeb Willms grew up in Washington State’s eastern farmlands, with a background in hard-bitten old country songs at family gather- ings. She brings to the mix both a stoic, deadpan vocal delivery and flawless guitar work. She also plays with Caleb in a duo, and his full- blown country band.

Reeb recalls picking up the guitar at college and being drawn to the old-time music community, and being a fan of the band. “We all met through mutual friends, going to same music festivals. The moment that I met them was also at Weiser, but I’d seen them perform several times before, and I started touring with them in late 2011.”

Nadine Landry has musical roots in rural Acadian Quebec, but she moved to the Yukon as a teenager, where she continues to live with Sammy. She is equally comfortable on guitar and upright bass (and sings with an open-throated, heart-stopping candour) playing in a variety of bands, from old-time to Cajun.

“In the Yukon, anything is possible if you put in a little effort. I started going to the Alaska Festival in Juneau, an eight-hour ferry journey from Whitehorse, in 2001. 2003 was first time that Foghorn played. I remember dancing and listening so hard; witnessing this incredible machine, this pulse. I tried as hard as I could to squeeze into a jam with them… and then five years later I joined the band.” As Nadine has it: “For Reeb and I, part of our job is to create this foundation so Caleb and Sammy can just put all their energy into playing the melody and know that we got their back!”

Sharing musical experiences is also a great source for new mate- rial. As well as relying on old records of early country songs or great old fiddle players, the living tradition is vital to the band. Caleb sug- gests: “Traditional music obviously goes beyond borders. We move around and hang out with different people and so many things cross-pollinate. We go to Weiser and we learn tunes from our friends. Or back in Portland we sit around with an older fiddler and learn something from them.”

The band are renowned for their dedication to source material, born out of love, which sees them spending many long hours learn- ing tunes and songs to get to the heart of them.

Caleb: “If a tune strikes me, I want to know what strikes me? With a Carter family song, what is it that I love? Is it just the tonali- ty? Is it the simplicity of the chords? Is it their deadpan delivery? Is it the melody of the song? I try and dive right down to the core of what makes the song great, and hold that. I’m not going to sing it just like Sara or Maybelle, but I respect and love that sound so much I want to get close.”

Because of this approach, some view Foghorn as preservation- ists, but Reeb explains the reality: “Because we’re playing close to the sources, we’re not really changing the music much other than it being filtered through us. We’re not preserving anything. We’re just participating in something that’s been going on for a long time! Caleb uses this metaphor about traditional music being a long train that’s passing by, through the ages. As you get drawn into the music, you step on board and ride the train for a while until you get off, and die. But, as you learned from people who were on the train before you, a young person who got on the train with you has learned from you… and so it goes on.”

Caleb agrees: “Foghorn have been around for a long time now, and I am starting to see people who are younger than us. We’re not the young ones anymore. There are people who have learned tunes from us. We are not playing it because we think we need to keep it happening. It is happening because we are playing it!”

Long may they inadvertently tend the flames. foghornstringband.com

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ammy continues: “I always felt lucky that Portland, Ore- gon, had so many people close to my age playing the music. The people that we’ve played with down the ages have all been really great friends. Of course it revolves around the music but we like spending time with each