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In 2015, singer-songwriter Ken Gentry and guitarist Curtis Fiore camped aspect by aspect on the Telluride Bluegrass Pageant. The impromptu early morning jam session that adopted led to a musical collaboration that finally turned Elk Vary, a four-piece bluegrass band consisting of mandolin, acoustic guitar, harmonica, and bass.
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Curtis Fiore, initially from Illinois however raised in Carbondale, has been taking part in guitar since he was 7 years previous. He studied jazz and performed in a steel band as a youngster, however when he transferred to Colorado Rocky Mountain Faculty, he met a trainer who launched him to bluegrass music and jammed with him. after class, which actually impressed and knocked him down. gender lover. A number of years later, after getting back from faculty, he attended an open mic night time at Bolsky’s bowling alley in El Jebel, the place he first heard Ken play lengthy earlier than their jam session on the campsite. .
“I had my guitar in my automobile, so I signed as much as play there. I met Ken, noticed him play and was impressed together with his voice, however we did not play collectively that night time,” Fiore stated.
Ken Gentry is initially from St Louis, Missouri. A self-proclaimed ‘metropolis boy with a Southern grandmother’, he honed his singing expertise in church and remembers at all times taking part in music and singing each music he is aware of. lyrics or not. At 16, he heard a David Grisman and Jerry Garcia cowl of the 1951 hit by Roy Hawkins and Roy Darnell written by BB King in 1970, The fun is gonewhich modified the path of his musical journey.
“It was the primary time I heard a mandolin. I did not know what it was, however I could not get the sound of the instrument out of my head. I saved all my cash and inside a couple of months purchased my first mandolin. That music and that instrument actually impressed me,” Gentry stated.
When he was 17, he and his brother took a Greyhound from St. Louis to Denver the place he first noticed the Rocky Mountains and was blown away after driving Flatirons outdoors of Boulder. Two days later, he attended the Telluride Bluegrass Pageant. Telluride opened their minds to what acoustic music may very well be.
“The mountains and the Telluride Bluegrass Pageant have had such a profound impression on me. I at all times knew I used to be going to come back again,” he stated.
Ten years in the past he did simply that and moved to the valley. He did not know anybody, so he signed up for open-mic nights on the legendary Pink Onion, hoping to satisfy different musicians. It was there that he met Betty Hoops 5 years in the past.
Betty Hoops, a five-time Guinness World File holder for pace and distance with a hoop (the ring by no means stopped or fell), was already well-known in Aspen for her in style hoop train packages, as properly than for the design of a collapsible hula. hoop. However that night time on the Pink Onion, she was taking part in harmonica. She got here to the harmonica a bit of by probability, when a buddy gave her a harp in G, which she discovered to play throughout street journeys.
“I had no formal coaching. I used to take numerous street journeys to sporting occasions and taking part in the harmonica whereas driving was a simple and enjoyable solution to move the time,” she stated.
After assembly Gentry on the Pink Onion, he informed her she ought to come play with him and Fiore, and she or he turned a “loopy fan who fell in love with their music”. She began attending all of their jam periods and began gathering harmonicas, so she might study extra simply to play with them. Once they invited her to hitch them on a couple of tracks from their freshman album, lengthy winding streetthe deal was completed.
Shortly after, they added bassist Hugh Phillips to finish the band.
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Elk Vary’s motto is “If it ain’t quick, it ain’t Elk Vary”, they usually pleasure themselves on performing each unique music and covers at a extra frenetic tempo supposed to make dancing the viewers. They attribute their love of bluegrass to a number of elements from the popular culture affect of the Cohen brothers’ 2000 movie, O brother, the place are yourelated to American tradition and historical past.
“Bluegrass music usually may be very shifting and playful. It instills a way of household and group. Going to bluegrass live shows over the previous 20 years hasn’t modified. It is at all times a query of household, of group pleasure,” Hoops stated.
Fiore accepted.
“I really like bluegrass for the readability of emotion. You possibly can hear each notice, there’s a lot precision, you may really feel the story. And it makes you dance, man,” he stated.
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Elk Vary is slowly gaining momentum. They’ve shared competition payments with Mandolin hero Sam Bush’s band, appeared at The Ute Theatre, Aspen Mountain Summer time Bluegrass Sequence and performed Carbondale’s Mountain Truthful for the primary time this yr, in addition to common appearances in varied places in western Colorado, together with month-to-month appearances at Tipsy Trout in Basalt. They even made an look in season 16 of The Actual Housewives of Orange County on a casting journey to Aspen. However what excites them essentially the most is their first look on the legendary Aspen Stomach Up live performance corridor because the opener for Mountain Rose on December sixth.
“If you attend considered one of our reveals, you may anticipate us to convey our feelings to you. We’re completely invested in these songs – you may by no means see the identical present twice. You’ll at all times make us put 110% into the music,” Gentry stated. “One of many joys of music is private development and the power to share it with individuals. We would like everybody to be part of it with us.
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