Be it old-time, punk rock or jazz, a conversation about music with local musician Brendan Shafer is always enlightening discourse.
He’s an articulate orator who will sell you on the function and history of his beloved old-time music, revealing its colorful past and turning you on to the even more colorful characters who have been so influential to the world of bluegrass, folk and beyond. Old-time music served a purpose that was well beyond entertainment, as the songs conveyed stories and information, serving as a source of news and public service announcements for the day just as much as they were a way to get your pre-World War II musical kicks. It’s arguable that if it weren’t for old-time music, there would be no bluegrass music as we know it today – or jazz, folk or even rock ’n’ roll.
It’s not just a study of the history for someone like Shafer, as he also continues to be a local purveyor of the music, playing and releasing old-time records with The Six Dollar String Band and as a solo musician, which includes his latest release, “Jimmy in the Swamp.”
“I’ve always loved old sounds, the ancient vernacular stuff. I just love that sound, it’s just really intriguing to me,” said Shafer, whose interest in the music moves well beyond that of just a music fan. It’s an anthropological pursuit, going after not only how and when, but the why, taking musical fandom up an educational notch.
“A lot of the music is part of something bigger than one person. It’s an oral tradition, and when I say that, I mean both oral and aural, that style of spreading information is part of this genre,” he said. “So that’s what’s interesting to me about it, instead of saying, ‘This song was written in 1898,’ it’s almost like acting in a way. You have to get inside the heads of the people who played this song before you, and you have to channel and understand people’s lives from another time. It’s an interesting way to approach music to me. That’s what’s cool about it.”
“Jimmy in the Swamp” came about through a failed Kickstarter campaign. Shafer had been planning on making a clawhammer banjo record in late 2019, with the hope that its funding would come from fans. While a noble financial effort was made, they didn’t make the goal. However, studio time had been booked, and musicians’ schedules cleared, so Shafer scrapped the clawhammer banjo project, dug into his own wallet and made this record with his bandmates from Six Dollar backing him up. The twist, however, is he’s playing fiddle on the solo effort, and Six Dollar’s normal fiddle player, Tony Holmquist, is playing banjo. Ever efficient, they remain an old-time string band with a punk rock mentality of getting things done in a DIY sense.
“We did a half day in the studio, and we went in and played string band music. At the end of the day, that’s what we love to do, that’s the music that we love and that’s what made the most sense,” Shafer said.
“Jimmy in the Swamp” is a 2020 take on classic old-time, where Shafer and his fellow musicians put their own stamp on decades-old songs. The beauty lies within its authenticity; void of polish and studio trickery, it’s honest music with a rough-around-the-edges appeal.
“Old time string band music is always a little bit different to talk about, you know, what’s original and what’s not,” he said. “You’re playing a traditional repertoire, that’s what this is, but it’s arranged in a little bit of a different way. We have our own style and our own sound and that’s what we bring to it. At this point, we’ve been a band for almost 10 years, and we do have our own sound, which is something I’m really proud of.”
“Jimmy In The Swamp” is available at www.brendanshafer.com.
Bryant Liggett is a freelance writer and KDUR station manager. Reach him at liggett_b@fortlewis.edu.
