Colorado’s Whitewater Ramble Announces Nevada City Album Release Party w/ Absynth Quintet 4/11

Whitewater Ramble & Absynth Quintet – Thurs, April 11

Miners Foundry, 325 Spring Street Nevada City, CA
ALL AGES, Doors: 7:30 PM, w/ Absynth Quintet: 8:30 PM, w/ WWR: 10:00 PM
Tickets: $12 ADV / $15 DOS, Available online at www.minersfoundry.org or at The BriarPatch Co-op

Hailing from Fort Collins, Colorado, Whitewater Ramble (WWR) bring their “High-Octane Rocky Mountain DanceGrass” to the Miners Foundry, Thursday, April 11th.  This is a special album release party is in support of the national release of their second studio album Roots & Groove. The band has welcomed back Tim Carbone of Railroad Earth as producer for the second time. Carbone worked with the band on their genre-bending debut release All Night Drive in 2010. Joining them are special guests Absynth Quintet for Humbolt County.

Whitewater Ramble (WWR) uses a simple recipe to craft it’s sound: start with bluegrass instrumentation, add drums, and finish with a boundary-less approach to grassing-up everything from disco house grooves to roots to Americana.  The Colorado-bred quintet combines the elements of mandolin, fiddle, acoustic guitar, upright bass, drums and vocals to explore the musical boundaries of multiple genres and to fuel their own mixture of original music and innovative cover song interpretations.

WWR has had the privilege of supporting, touring with and sharing stages with Railroad Earth, Michael Franti and Spearhead, Karl Denson’s Tiny Universe, Greensky Bluegrass, Cornmeal, The Infamous Stringdusters, Dark Star Orchestra, Little Feat, Papa Mali, The New Mastersounds, The Gourds, The David Grisman Quintet, Jerry Douglas, Lotus, Splitlip Rayfiled, The Motet, Tea Leaf Green, Henry Butler, Vince Herman and Great American Taxi, Peter Rowan, Tony Furtado and many more.

The Miners Foundry had the opportunity to ask WWR’s Patrick Sites (mandolin, vocals) a few questions before the group rolls into town on Thursday.

When did you realize bluegrass was the genre of music for you? 
Not sure we’ve ever realized that…. We love bluegrass, but it’s only a portion of what we use in our sound.  We pull a lot from rock, jazz, jam and improve, even some reggae.

What is it about bluegrass you live so much?
Bluegrass at its core is pure and simple, which lends itself to cross-pollination of other forms and genres and blurring the lines of form.

How did you all meet?
Probably not enough time or ways to describe how this group has come together, but jams, parties, open mics, friends of friends,  What is special about this group?   One minute, we are playing and singing a traditional bluegrass number, the next minute, the bassist is standing on top of his bass playing a synthesizer while the drummers drops dance beats…… all in the same song

What is it like to look out from stage and see entire room dancing to your songs?
It’s the personal goal of everyone in our group, we love artistry, but we love when artistry meets dance party.   In other words, it’s extremely satisfying and rewarding, it’s the goal of our live performances each and every night.

What are some of your musical influences?
Diverse, Grateful Dead, Bob Marley, Johnny Cash, Leftover Salmon, Sam Bush, Sound Tribe, String Cheese, Railroad Earth, Gillian Welch…..

How do they reflect in your music?
Some influences are reflecting in writing and lyric only, others in our own playing of each instrument, other reflections in our arrangements.

Your dream musical collaboration?
Any remaining members of the Grateful Dead

What’s it like being a band on the festival circuit?
Fun, fun and more fun.  Still work, long hours of travel, but certainly the best part of our year is at festivals.

Is it hard to come home?
Yes and no, it’s still travel and time away from our personal lives but it’s great to walk a proper balance as well.

For someone who has never seen or heard you what should they expect when they come to the show? 
Diversity in styles and sound, drinking more than they expected and dancing more than they expected.