Local bluegrass band La La Bones are into saving their earnings. Choosing not to pay themselves post-gig, they don’t invest money in a ton of merch, tour planning or other extracurricular band schwag. The money they do earn post-performance goes into a kitty for album making, a savings account of funds set aside to finance the next recording session.
That’s how they paid for the recording and production of their latest release, “Bones Hit the Ground,” the newest album from the now 10-year-old bluegrass band that came out in fall 2023.
La La Bones has three shows planned for the next three months: a Feb. 27 show opening for A.J. Lee & Blue Summit at the Animas City Theatre; a March 9 show in Mancos at Fenceline Cidery; then an appearance at the annual Durango Bluegrass Meltdown in April.
La La Bones are Kyle Siesser on guitar, Tommy Frederico on banjo, Kathy Hilimire on fiddle and Scott Roberts on mandolin, with all sharing vocals. Currently without a bass player, local musician Chuck Hank will fill in on forthcoming shows, while they actively search for just the right person to handle the low end.
The not giving themselves a paycheck mode is so they can always be at the ready to record.
“We always saved our gig money toward recording,” said banjo player Tommy Frederico. “We hardly ever pay each other out, just so we can always have a fun project to do.”
They also remain a diplomatic band when it comes to songwriting, as both the 2016, self-titled debut and this latest release came together via band member collaboration; members will write on their own before the band comes together and arranges the songs as a band, a full-blown group effort.
“Everyone writes. That’s kind of the unique thing of La La Bones is everyone brings their original tunes to the band, and then we’ll arrange them together,” Siesser said. “We love gigging out, we love the studio, but one of my favorite things about the band is getting together for practices and arranging songs. They start with something raw and simple and by the time we’re done, it’s something more complex and interesting.”
“Bones on the Ground” is for all bluegrass fans, from those who love the traditional, the the modern-day progressive or someone looking to dig into twangy folk.
The opener in “Two Ton Wave” kicks off with classic, Earl Scruggs-inspired banjo. “Lupine” is driven by Hilimires dance-hall fiddle, and “First Time” has wonderful bluegrass instrumentation that drives a country and folk-rock vibe. It’s a record of solid instrumentation and smooth harmonies, with a sleeper cut coming in “Hunting Diaries.” A song years in the making, this is where that aforementioned band collaboration is heard. Frederico remains a diehard elk hunter, and over the years as he’s sat alone and quiet in the woods, he’d send updates on his hunting progress via text to the bandmates. Hilimire saved those texts, turning them into stream-of-consciousness lyrics placed within a bouncing banjo tune.
“I’ll be sitting against a tree or watching the sun come up and I’ll describe in these text messages what I’m doing or what my next plan is, and Kathy saved these for about five years and sat down one night and wrote a song and presented it to us at a practice,” Frederico said. “I was blown away.”
La La Bones is a band where friendship and music come first. Band members have full-time jobs that aren’t in the music business, and if the band isn’t on stage together, come summer, you’d likely find them camping together. The music is important, but the music business is not.
“We’re not looking to make any money,” Frederico said. “We’re just having fun and creating music.”
Bryant Liggett is a freelance writer and KDUR station manager. Reach him at liggett_b@fortlewis.edu.
