I discovered a new band called Rare Company recently so I contacted them and arranged a Zoom interview. Every band member showed up and one who said he had to leave after ten minutes stayed for the whole interview. I got to know these guys pretty well over thirty minutes and one thing that struck me was how much they enjoyed each other’s company. It was almost like I was sitting in on one of their practice sessions while they create new music.
And creating new music is what this band is all about. They formed out of a band called Lonesome Still by adding guitar player Chris Wolff. And one of their goals as a band from the get go was to write new music. All of the band members are talented song writers. Take a listen:
https://rarecompany.bandcamp.com/album/rare-company
With Nat Hendel on mandolin, Ian Kelmartin on bass, Garrett Massman on Dobro and fiddle and Chris Wolff on guitar this is a tight group and they play well together with each other’s compositions which run the gamut from bluegrass, folk and jazz influences. Their recent album is all original tunes.
I asked the band about their interesting cover illustration. It was created by their friend Emily Neilson and relates to the classic folk riddle of the goose, the fox and the bag of grain. You have to transport one passenger at a time across the river without anything being eaten. The image appears to be the start of the solution because the boatman is headed away but the final solution looks pretty much the same.
What does this have to do with Rare Company music or any music for that matter? I have no idea and apparently neither does the band. It’s just fun. With full time jobs as software engineer, marine biologist and in net biotech these guys are accomplished not only in music so I’m not surprised that an ancient riddle would amuse them. I didn’t query them on their academic accomplishments but there is at least one PhD out there.
Juggling busy schedules to keep a band going strong can be a real challenge so I asked them how they divide up the band duties. Who cracks the whip? Who herds the cats? The answer was somewhat surprising. Nat manages the outreach, Garrett does the web site and Ian does the sound engineering. Most of the band members live near the east bay but Ian is up in Santa Rosa.
i admire this band’s devotion to producing original music. The only other recent California band I can think of that can pull that off is Red Dog Ash. A lot of bluegrass fans come to hear classic bluegrass covers so it’s really tough to engage an audience with music they have never heard before. The song writing and performance have to be very good and this band is.
Rare Company’s music is very eclectic but it fits pretty well into the bluegrass genre. Nat tends to play melodic mandolin backup rather than chopping rhythm. The harmony singing is very good (for example on Rose Colored Glasses) but according to one band member Ian sings the lead a little different each time and the harmony singers just magically adjust as if singing three part brother harmony.
This is a tight band. In the words of bassist Ian Kelmartin “We love the music we’re playing and we love each other.” These are guys who all gave toasts at each others’ weddings. We joked during the interview that in the unlikely event they ever attained the commercial success of the 60’s Beatles they would never disband.
Like many of us I am admirer of fine instruments almost as much as some of the musicians who play them. I play mandolin so I noticed in a video that Nat was playing a Northfield, also played by Mike Marshall and Sierra Hull. He really loves that mandolin and he offered that Sierra was one his favorite mandolinists.
Other band members chimed in about their axes as well. Ian used to play a ‘59 Kay but these days he prefers his ‘45. Garrett plays a Richard DeNeve Dobro and he loves it. Garrett also plays fiddle but I didn’t get the history. Chris plays a really nice Collings.
With such an avowed penchant for original music I asked the band about what kind of stuff they liked to cover when they played at festivals. The immediate response was Bill Monroe. Good answer! That led to a larger question of who are your main influences? As mentioned, Nat admires the work of Sierra Hull. Ian made the certainly true observation that what makes a great band is “the groove” and he mentioned the Philly MoTown sound as a good example of that. Garrett is a big fan of Allison Krauss and especially Jerry Douglas.
Chordmaster Chris Wolff mentioned two influences I had never heard of, both apparently well known in Americana circles. I need to listen to these two but I was at least familiar with the father of one. Steve Earle’s son Justin Townes Earle died tragically of a cocaine laced fentanyl overdose at age 38. Harlem River Blues is now on my listening list. Willi Carlisle is another influencer I will check out.
In summary, this is a very interesting band that needs to be listened to. Here’s a link to a recent Bluegrass Today feature about them:
