Stephen Sellers stands straight, plucking the strings of the upright base he is holding. Next to him, on his couch, sit Tony Holmquist on guitar and Brandon Shafer on banjo. They are practicing for their performance on Saturday – and they have to practice. Not because their music sounded bad – it sounded great – but because they haven’t practiced much, says Sellers, 31.
Holmquist, 36, Sellers and Shafer, 31, are the Six Dollar String Band. Since 2010 or 2011 – none of them can remember the exact year of the band’s formation – they have played old-time music. “What we are trying is a special interest,” Shafer says. “This evening is the best application for old-time music.”
For their performance on Saturday at the Irish Embassy Underground, Holmquist will switch to the fiddle – which he forgot to bring to the rehearsal in Seller’s house.
They won’t play a usual concert – it will be a barn dance. While they perform on the stage, the guests will dance. During dance breaks, the group also will sing.
This barn dance won’t be a traditional one, Holmquist says. “It’s not a competitive thing, it’s a community thing.”
They expect a mix of up to 150 guests – serious dancers, college students and those just passing by the Irish Embassy. Nobody has to dress in an elaborate costume.
“The music is not the center of the evening,” Sellers says. “What is more important is the mix of all.”
Often, people confuse old-time music with bluegrass, though old-time music is much older and has a larger history than bluegrass
“You don’t really know where it comes from. So that’s kind of interesting,” Holmquist says.
That makes old-time music mysterious for him and the other band members.
“It has appealed to me with no specific reason,” Shafer says. Sellers knows exactly why he likes to play old-time music: “Reason No. 1: it’s fun.”
Thomas Feiler is a student at the Catholic University Eichstaett-Ingolstadt, Germany, and an intern at The Durango Herald.
If you go
The Six Dollar String Band will perform at the Underground Barn Dance II at 8 p.m. Saturday at the Irish Embassy Underground, 900 Main Ave. The cost is $5.
