Where there’s smoke, there’s often fire.
Just ask the hundreds of Roots and Blues Festival fans who were fired up by The Lil Smokies’ unique blend of bluegrass, roots and the sheer raw energy of a rock band at last year’s festival.
The band was so popular that artistic director Peter North is bringing them back for the 26th annual festival in August where they’ll perform on the main stage Friday night and close out the Barn Stage on Sunday.
“They were an obvious fan favourite right from Friday night when we put them on main stage; they did Elton John’s Rocket Man and the place just lit up,” says North, who saw them again at the Great American Music Hall in San Francisco last fall. “The place was insane, they just turned it upside down.”
North says the band’s star is rising as they play major music festivals in the U.S.
“It’s not like they’ve worn out their welcome here and they’re so easy to work with, so, to me, it was a no-brainer.”
North is not the only one who is enthusiastic about the band’s return.
Lil Smokies guitarist Matt Rieger says band members are very excited about returning to Roots and Blues where everyone was “accommodating and kind.”
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Rieger and fiddle player Jake Simpson are longtime friends who are relative newcomers to the band, having joined in 2015.
The two began playing at “picking parties” in various homes and garages and did some busking before making it into clubs and onto the stage with other bands.
“Both Jake and I had been working more or less as hired guns with lots of bands,” he says. “We first met The Lil Smokies in September 2015 and I packed my bags and left Seattle by New Year’s Eve of that year.”
He says all the members of the band that calls Missoula, Montana home drops individual egos and desires in order to gel quickly and make great music.
Rieger says from his first instrument, the piano, which he played in church at a very young age, he moved on to rock and roll drumming, jazz, dobro and lap steel.
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While he did play it, acoustic guitar was never his performance instrument of choice. But he was delighted to take on the role of guitarist with The Lil Smokies because he wanted “more than anything” to have a professional music career. He says he didn’t feel confident enough to play in the Roots & Blues workshop last year that featured The Lil Smokies and legendary bluegrass artist Mark Schatz – that is, until the “musical guru” turned around and said to him, “It’s in A, play.”
“When Mark tells you to play, you play,” laughs Rieger, noting that workshops are sometimes a refreshing change from playing to fulfill contract expectations.
“I think it’s the mark of a good festival when you go beyond rehearsed performances into improvised performance, talk about what you’re doing, have fun and play music.”
On stage, The Lil Smokies weave seamlessly through genres, promising to leave behind melodies audience members will be singing to themselves for days.
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The first incarnation of The Lil Smokies formed in Missoula during the winter of 2009. Through the years, the band transformed and settled into the current lineup – Scott Parker on bass; Jake Simpson on fiddle; Matt Rieger on guitar; Matt Cornette on banjo and Andy Dunnigan lead songwriter, singer and dobro player.
Previously, the band has won the 2015 Telluride Bluegrass Band competition and took home the 2016 IBMA Momentum Band of the Year award.
Other awards include the 2013 Northwest String Band Competition winners and the 2016 IBMA Momentum Band of the Year award.
They’ve have wowed fans at the High Sierra, FreshGrass, Telluride Bluegrass, Grey Fox, Del Fest, Floyd Fest and String Summit festivals, to name a few.
The band captures that same dynamic presence on their new album, Changing Shades, delivering their exceptional songwriting and bluegrass roots with the punch of a rock band.
This year’s Roots and Blues Festival runs Aug. 16 to 19 at the Salmon Arm Fairgrounds. For information on the festival and to purchase tickets, go to www.rootsandblues.ca.
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