The Slocan Ramblers have been pickin’ their way across North America, and the band will bring its bluegrass stylings to the Mariposa Folk Festival next month.
The Toronto-based group performed at the Orillia festival in 2012. It was one of its first festival gigs.
“It was a pretty cool feeling,” bassist Alistair Whitehead told OrilliaMatters.
The band had been together for a few years and jumped at the chance to play the famed festival.
“Mariposa is such a well-known festival in Ontario and in Canada,” Whitehead said, adding the Slocan Ramblers “always have a great time in small towns and at festivals.”
An event like Mariposa is ideal for musicians of many genres, a place where country, folk, rock, blues and other types of music are welcomed and embraced. But the Slocan Ramblers don’t only play festivals, and Whitehead admitted there was a bit of uncertainty as to how the band would be received while performing bluegrass in the 21st century.
“People seemed pretty open to what we were doing,” he said.
The banjo-heavy genre got its start in the 1930s in the Appalachian region of the United States.
“People tend to think of it as this music that’s been around for hundreds of years. It hasn’t,” Whitehead said.
Still, it has an unmistakably traditional sound, but the Slocan Ramblers have found a way to make it appeal to younger audiences, helping to keep it relevant in the modern scene.
Those who have followed the band’s career have likely noticed a “natural progression” from album to album. The latest, Queen City Jubilee, will be released Friday. Listeners will be able to detect the band’s increasing confidence in its music, Whitehead believes.
If the June 2 album release party in Toronto was any indication, the Slocan Ramblers can expect the new tunes to be welcomed with open arms and ears.
“We were floored. The response was great,” Whitehead said.
While the final product is a point of pride for almost any musician, the live show is where the magic happens.
“Bluegrass is one of those genres that you have to see live. There’s a lot of improvisation and in-the-moment musical moments happening,” Whitehead said. “When you hit your stride live, it’s a kind of energy that’s really captivating. As music gets more and more digital and processed … there’s something that drives people to four guys on a stage, singing around one mic.”
The Slocan Ramblers have been well received in the States — not just in areas traditionally associated with bluegrass, but also in the Pacific Northwest.
They will perform a number of shows in Idaho, Oregon and Washington, starting this week, before heading back to Canada. They will follow up their Mariposa appearance (the festival runs July 6 to 8) with performances at the Hillside Festival in Guelph and the Festival of the Sound in Parry Sound.
Find out more about the band here.
For more information on the Mariposa Folk Festival, visit mariposafolk.com.
