PorchTalk Interview with Tristan Scroggins

Jul 28, 2019 | Welcome Column

This is a re-post of an interview that previously appeared in the CBA Breakdown.

Tristan Scroggins is an award-winning mandolinist and composer from Denver Colorado. He has toured extensively with his father in the critically acclaimed bluegrass band Jeff Scroggins & Colorado. Now 22 years old, Tristan was nominated for the Instrumental Momentum Award by the International Bluegrass Music Association and was winner of multiple state championships before the age of 16. He has a studio recording of original tunes, one of which was a finalist for the International Acoustic Music Awards Instrumental Song of the Year. He has a new record of mandolin and violin duets with Grammy-nominated San Francisco Bay area violinist Alisa Rose.  

Dave: Hi Tristan, what is it like having grown up so close to this music?
Tristan: I’ve been listening to bluegrass since nine months before I was born. My father stopped playing professionally to raise children but did play in local bands while I was growing up. My parents never made us play music but instead they made us play baseball. When I was eight, I was listening to my dad play on stage and was overwhelmed with pride and decided I wanted to learn to play the banjo too.

Dave: What instruments do you play?
Tristan: I quit the banjo pretty quickly but my Dad had an old mandolin in the house, and I felt like I understood it better. When I was in high school I found my way around guitar mostly to make the compositions I was starting to write sound fuller on home recordings. It was the same with the bass. I recently bought a banjo and understand it a little better now.

Dave: What was your very first instrument?
Tristan: I technically played piano for two weeks but can barely play chopsticks. My first mandolin was one that my father’s father had left to him. It was an old Harmony Monterey that I’d always written off as a cheap instrument, but it probably just needed set up work. I put flame stickers on it to make it look cooler.

Dave: I’m guessing your dad was your biggest musical influence. Who else?
Tristan: Yes, my biggest musical influence was undoubtedly my dad. I’ve just been hearing him so long that it really affects how I play. I was also very heavily influenced and inspired as a kid by Sam Bush and then later by Béla Fleck. There was also a mandolin player named Dave Peters who my dad really admired that I aspire to sound like.

Dave: Tell us about your composing?
Tristan: I mostly compose tunes. I’ve written probably two hundred tunes and have forgotten most of them. I’ve also written around five songs with words. At some point early on I decided that I would just treat every idea that I had for a tune with the same level of validity, as I could never know how good the finished product would be. I used to be worried that they just didn’t sound like tunes, but then as I listened to more music I realized that people were already making money with bad tunes so I might as well write them too. Somehow I’ve never been able to do this with writing words.

Dave: What is your process when you write?
Tristan: I started recording every idea I had into my phone. The ones that stuck in my head usually got turned into full tunes. Occasionally I’d go back through and listen to old ones or search for something to use on something I was already working on. Sometimes I’d have an idea and would just play until it was full. More recently I’ve tried to be more methodical in how I choose what happens next.

Dave: How do you go about naming the tunes?
Tristan: I really like tune names and keep extensive lists of ideas for names. Mostly I try to write a tune first and then look for a name that suits it. On occasion I’ve tried to write a tune for a specific name with favorable results. A lot were bad, some were good but I’ve gotten better at it. While many are just unintentional rip-offs of some brainworm from another song, I’m now able to more effectively express myself and communicate through instrumental music.

Dave: Who do you play with other than your dad’s band?
Tristan: I tour full time with Jeff Scroggins & Colorado and have just recently started a new duo project with Bay Area violinist Alisa Rose. We get together and play every few months between JSCO tours.

Dave: Do you play non-bluegrass styles?
Tristan: The short answer is yes. The music I play with Alisa ranges from classical to kind of bluegrass inspired post-modern avant-garde new acoustic music, which is better than it sounds. I enjoy other music a lot but haven’t had a lot of time to get good at any of it. I know a stock of four Irish tunes, four Scottish tunes, four swing tunes, four show tunes, four rock songs, and four pop songs.

Dave: Do you read standard notation?
Tristan: I took orchestra in middle school to learn how to read standard notation. It comes in handy with some of the more complicated classical stuff but I mostly try to learn and play by ear.

Dave: Tell us about the project with Alisa Rose.
Tristan: Alisa and I released our new full-length album called “GRANA” on May 23rd. It features 14 tracks of live mandolin and violin duets with six original tunes and seven improvisations on traditional tunes, Bill Monroe tunes, and classical material. You can find out more about the album and where to buy it at bit.ly/granarecord.

Dave: Do you feel GRANA will expose you to different audiences?
Tristan: I hope so! I think bluegrass people will appreciate its relationship to bluegrass and enjoy the technical aspects. So far lots of different people with varying music tastes really like sound. We’re not sure why, but I hope we get to play for different folks than we normally do and they enjoy it.

Dave: Are there any plans for a tour?
Tristan: This is largely a side project for us but we do have some dates on the books. It’s really fun music to perform live and I hope we get the chance to play it in between our usual gigs.

Dave: What interests you when you are not playing music?
Tristan: I’ve been spending most of my free time researching bluegrass history and the adjacent history that informs the culture. When I’m not on the road I usually go places to try to interview people and create some content for my blog, the Why Lonesome Sound.

Dave: Are there any upcoming shows you’re looking forward to?
Tristan: Jeff Scroggins & Colorado is playing at the La Roche Bluegrass Festival in France this summer and a festival in Granna, Sweden. I really love Europe, so shows over there are exciting for me. Also we’re teaching at Nimble Fingers in British Columbia, which has historically been my favorite week of the year, so that should be great.

Dave: Tell us about playing CBA events such as the Fathers Day Festival.
Tristan: I attended and played at Grass Valley for the first time in 2016. I’d kind of fallen into the California bluegrass scene by meeting a bunch of folks from the scene all around the same time. I’d played Strawberry with Steep Ravine in 2015, I’d been to the Bay to rehearse with Alisa some already, and I’d gone to the Great 48 a few times. Upon arriving at Grass Valley for the first time, I already had so many friends there that it felt like coming home. It’s my favorite kind of festival with longstanding and growing traditions. It becomes a home for a weekend, a sacred place. To be welcomed was such an amazing feeling, and with the high quality of music I was particularly sad to leave.

Dave: Are there any particular bluegrass eras that are your favorite?
Tristan: I’ve been interested in the Monroe style lately. I never understood it until recently and I’ve really been enjoying it. My original favorite was late third generation (Sam Bush, Jerry Douglas, Béla Fleck, etc.), but that stuff is all built on a foundation of earlier music. When our band does bluegrass songs they tend to be from the late second/early third generation, and so I spent a fair amount of time studying that style. I enjoy the recreation of trying to play in all styles though.

Dave: Can you share some tips and tricks for players to continue to improve?
Tristan: This sounds weird but it helps if you try to think about what you’re doing more. In the beginning we get wrapped up in just trying to control the instrument. But once you’re in control, if you actually think about the sounds you’re making and what they’ll sound like to someone else, it makes it a little easier to audiate what you should be doing differently.

Dave: What about playing in a group setting?
Tristan: If you’re playing in a group you have to listen to everybody else. Your job in a group is to make everyone else sound better. If you’re playing something imitative or nostalgic, then it can help to try to imagine yourself in the mind of the person you’re trying to sound like. Rather than just learning the notes, try to figure out why they played those notes in the first place. But you shouldn’t really try to sound like anyone else, just try to sound like yourself.

Dave: How long did it take to get your sound so clean?
Tristan: I remember people making comments about my clean playing when I was about 16, so I’d been playing for about eight years. I don’t think it had so much to do with time as just becoming comfortable with the instrument and confidently working towards something clean. My dad always told me that each note should have so much space between them that you could drive a train through them. That didn’t mean anything to me for a long time, but once it clicked I was able to apply the lessons some of my mentors had talked to me about.

Dave: I really like your cross picking. Is that as hard as it sounds?
Tristan: It’s not so hard. I’ve always credited my ability to do stuff typically associated with the banjo to the fact that my dad used to tab out tunes for me. He didn’t know how to play the mandolin so he’d just transcribe single-string banjo arrangements and I’d learn those. I’ve always been drawn to the sound of the banjo and Dobro, so I’ve gravitated towards playing like that.

Dave: Do you sing much?
Tristan: I sing baritone in our band mostly out of necessity since both of our singers left at the same time. K.C. Groves took a lot of time to coach me as well as Greg Blake. I’ve probably spent the most time with Ellie Hakanson who just gives me a dirty look if I sing the wrong note, which is great except when she’s not there.

Dave: What instrument makers and models do you play?
Tristan: I play a Stelling S5 mandolin. It’s from 1992 and was built by John Hamlet in Afton, Virginia. It’s a great mandolin that has really grown into its sound. I only like using tortoise shell picks but I occasionally like the sound of a Wegen. I’ve been using Straight up Strings developed by Californian Roger Siminoff for a while now. I really like the depth they add to the instrument and it feels like more responsive.

Dave: Thanks so much Tristan.
Tristan: You’re welcome Dave. Hope it’s all right.

REFERENCE
Website: http://tristanscroggins.com
GRANA bit.ly/granarecord
Blog: http://nerdgrass.blogspot.com/

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