Drew Emmitt: Press

We Interview: Drew Emmitt Ahead of His Show Friday at the Tractor

Seattlest is most familiar with Drew Emmitt through his time with the fabulous bluegrass group Leftover Salmon. Now Emmitt's coming to town with his own band (named, aptly, the Drew Emmitt Band) and will be helped by openers the Hackensaw Boys. If you haven't caught the Hackensaw Boys, their live show is a raging good time. They're the definition of high-powered, high-speed punk-rock bluegrass and, before you know it, you, too, will be hopping around the room like the big hick you are.

Anyway, we caught up with Emmitt while he was driving between Ashland, Ore., and Portland...

Seattlest: So, why should people come see you play?
Emmitt: Because we’re fun [laughs]. We have a really good time. We’re excited—we just made a new record in December out in Nashville, so we’re playing some new songs from that. So it’s kind of a pre-release tour, as I like to think of it. But we’re having a great time playing music. We’ve got a fun little four-piece band. We’re playing kind of both bluegrass and rock, lots of originals….it’s just a real fun little four-piece.

Seattlest: And you’re doing the show with the Hackensaw Boys….have you played with them before?
Emmitt: We did two shows [with them] on this run. We did Tahoe at Crystal Bay. And we did the Great American Music Hall in San Francisco with them, as well. They’re real fun. They get people all riled up and jumping up and down.

Seattlest: You’re from Colorado. What’s the music scene like down there? Is there a lot of rootsy stuff going on?
Emmitt: Yeah, there is. I mean, Colorado is always a hotbed for musicians. People are constantly passing through there or just coming and staying awhile and moving on. It’s a really good place to meet other musicians. It’s also a good place to play music because there’s a lot of good places for you to play in the state. And then there’s the geology and the ski areas, there’s Boulder, there’s Denver, there’s Fort Collins and Colorado Springs. It’s a good place to start out as a band, you can literally do the state and do well.

Seattlest: I see you’ve played with Sam Bush and Ronnie McCoury. How did that happen and how was that for you?
Emmitt: It’s been a while now. I’ve actually known Sam now I guess for 12 years. We met at MerleFest in ’96. We’ve crossed paths a few times, but that was when we really chilled and played music together. We played together a whole lot at festivals and he’s on a couple of my solo records and a couple of the Salmon records. So, we’ve definitely had a lot of time to hang and play tunes together. He’s just been an ultimate inspiration for me. If there were one mandolin player, he’d definitely be the one that I look up to the most. He’s also a great guy and it’s been a real gift getting to know him.

And Ronnie as well, I’ve known Ronnie now for probably going on 10 years. We met at Rockygrass. We’re kind of around the same age and we have a lot in common. We have a good time playing together as well. That’s really the fun of it is getting to meet all these different people and play with them, get inspired.

Seattlest: As you travel around, do you feel like there’s a big bluegrass and roots revival going on? Do you see a lot of other younger bands, younger guys taking up that kind of music?
Emmitt: Oh yeah, there’s a lot of young pickers and a lot of younger people playing bluegrass instead of the usual rock band situation. Kids are seeing that, oh here’s another way you can do it. You can just get acoustic instruments and get out on the road. It’s real simple and fun and a lot of people get into it. It’s a great community of people, too, the bluegrass world. It’s almost like a culture in some ways, rather than a musical genre. I think it’s definitely catching on with a lot of kids, and I think of course the Yonder Mountain Stringband has had a lot to do with that, as well. They’re carrying on the legacy of the progressive, jamgrass kind of thing. I think that’s definitely [influencing] a lot of kids.

Seattlest: What are some of the younger up-and-coming bands you’ve come across that you’d recommend people check out?
Emmitt: Well there’s a lot of people….they’re not so unknown anymore, but the String Sisters are the real up-and-coming, hot bluegrass band out of Nashville. We’ve played a lot with their banjo player Chris Pandolfi. He’s on my record and he played with us in the Emmit-Nershi band. Just a bunch of great players in that band. I definitely recommend people checking them out. There’s a bunch of unknown bluegrass bands and I wish I could remember all their names. Hey Tyler, who are some good unknown bluegrass bands to check out? Tyler’s the guitarist, he lives in Nashville and knows about all the new things that are happening. But there’s definitely a movement….[Tyler] can’t think of any either. [laughs] But the Stringdusters….there’s Chris Thile’s new band.

Seattlest: Oh yeah, the Punch Brothers!
Emmitt: Yeah, the Punch Brothers. They’ve got members from different bands in that band. Greg Garrison and Noam Pikelny from Leftover Salmon are in it. And Gabe Witcher who was playing with Jerry Douglas. And then Chris Eldridge was in the [Infamous] Stringdusters, and now he’s in that band.

Seattlest: Did he leave the Stringdusters for that? What a bummer!
Emmitt: He did, and now the Stringdusters have Andy Falco playing guitar, who’s a great guitar player. It’s funny how things turn around in this business….I think it’s great. I think what we should just do is get a hat and throw all the names of people in bands in the hat and then pick out different bands. Do that periodically.

Seattlest: That’s a great idea. In fact, is there anything special you’re doing for the Seattle show? Are you gonna mix it up with the Hackensaw Boys?
Emmitt: Well, it hasn’t happened yet, but that could definitely occur. It’s our last show with them, so we’ll see what we can get going. It’s going to be a rowdy show. Those guys will get it stomping and then we’ll get up there and play our loud bluegrass –rock-and-roll thing and have a good time. But, like I said, we’ll be playing tunes from the new record and some tunes people know, some tunes people don’t know, and mixing it up.