Touring musicians need to be more than just good players. In the case of a band that’s on the road much of the year, they need to be both solid co-workers, and road trip partners. Your typical nine-to-fiver doesn’t end the day by spending the next eight hours with co-workers driving to another town for the next day’s work. That, however, is the life of most touring musicians; you play a show, and then everyone piles into the van to move onto the next town.
Members of local band Stillhouse Junkies have been on the road for the better part of the last five-plus years; they’ve recently added two new members, newbies who need to gel on stage and off.
Stillhouse Junkies, who are Fred Kosak on guitar, mandolin and vocals; Alissa Wolf on fiddle and vocals; and new members Eric Lee on fiddle, guitar and mandolin; and Matt Thomas on bass, will play their annual hometown Halloween shows Friday and Saturday at the Animas City Theatre.
Lee comes from Nashville, Tennessee, and Thomas from Nederland, and thus far both have passed the road tests.
If you go
WHAT: Two Nights of Stillhouse Junkies. Opening are Pretend Friend on Friday, and Splendid Torch on Saturday.
WHEN: 7 p.m. Friday and Saturday.
WHERE: Animas City Theatre, 128 E. College Drive.
TICKETS: Two-night pass $40, single night $25.
MORE INFORMATION: Visit www.animascitytheatre.com.
“We can send our music to a new person, and they can learn it, but that doesn’t mean they’re going to vibe with you on stage, and it doesn’t mean they are going to vibe with you in the van,” Wolf said. “We really lucked out; Matt and Eric are both very easy to tour with and a lot of fun, and they keep the mood very light, even when there’s challenging days.”
They also fit musically. While you’d file Stillhouse Junkies under bluegrass, they’re a roots-boogie band, playing upbeat jazzy shuffles and roots rock with a bluegrass edge. New members are packing a new punch.
“We’re not trying to become a cover band of ourselves,” Kosak said. “We’re trying to find new perspectives on the older material, and we have new stuff that we’ve been able to work up with these guys, and its led to some really interesting textures and ideas. That’s something I think we’ve been leaning into and trying to view it as a chance to change our sound in an organic way. It feels natural to all of us while keeping the Junkies’ elements that make the band what it is.”
These Halloween shows are on their way to becoming a fall tradition. While this time of year sees festival season winding down, the Junkies are thinking they can add one more weekend for festival lovers to revel in music.
“There’s not a ton of stuff happening in the area in the fall like there is in the spring, so that is our end goal,” Kosak said. “I don’t know what the timeline is, but we’re going to try and just build that weekend into something that people know we’re going to do, and they put it on the calendar. We’ve had friends fly in for it, so we’ll try to make sure it’s the same weekend every year.”
Musically, the band will charge forward further perfecting their sound as an upbeat and high energy string band. They recently released the single “West Virginia” that features Tim O’Brien, and they’ll drop a self-described “indie-country” single featuring musician Rachel Baiman later this year. Then it’s off to Nashville in early 2025 to start work on their next record.
After a busy 2024 that also was a time of transition, they’ll look to have a full plate of music and touring for next year.
“Now that we’ve got our feet under us with the quartet, we’re looking forward to having that be the new normal,” Kosak said. “We can hit the road and know what’s coming.”
Bryant Liggett is a freelance writer and KDUR station manager. Reach him at liggett_b@fortlewis.edu.
