Bluegrass Spotlight: Miners Creek Band
By: Devanney Haruta
MAY 30th, 2018
ARTIST SPOTLIGHT
Not your ordinary bluegrass band
Miners Creek is not your ordinary bluegrass band. Performing in Rockport, ME, band members Resa Randolph, Whitney Randolph, Emily Randolph-Epstein, and Emma Theobalds come from a variety of musical backgrounds – classical, jazz, Latin, and even opera – elements of which add a distinctive flavor to their classic bluegrass sound. Listening to their songs, however, you’ll hear that their music is not fusion nor is it radically new and unfamiliar: it is unmistakably bluegrass.
What is it, then, that makes bluegrass bluegrass? “Having a good story to tell and making your audience feel something because of that story,” says Emma. Emily adds: “Not just any story, but a story about something everyday. It’s about the little guy living his life, and maybe a story of this one extraordinary day, or this one extraordinary love. It’s very relatable.”
Humor is an essential ingredient to Miners Creek.
Pictured: Whitney Randolph, Resa Randolph, Emma Theobalds, and Emily Randolph-Epstein
Pictured: Whitney Randolph, Resa Randolph, Emma Theobalds, and Emily Randolph-Epstein
Photo by Marti Stone
The instruments, too, are key. Whether they’re singing a classic such as “Red Rocking Chair” or an original such as “Cold, Cold Ground,” “you add the driving beat of the banjo, you add a really good strong bluegrass-style guitar, and that’s bluegrass,” says Resa. “You can’t mistake it for anything else.”
“It’s about the little guy living his life, and maybe a story of this one extraordinary day, or this one extraordinary love.”
Whitney reflects that from the beginning, bluegrass was an evolving genre: “In terms of traditional bluegrass, it’s hard to say what that is exactly. The people you think of as founding fathers of bluegrass like the Scruggs, Bill Monroe – they all kept evolving and playing in different genres. If you look at Bill Monroe, he’s the only musician who’s in three different musical halls of fame: rock, country, and bluegrass. That’s kind of interesting.”
Resa and Emma in the studio, recording their recent album
Photo by Miners Creek Band
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As long as Miners Creek is around, the evolution of bluegrass will never be static. They run a bluegrass camp in Bucksport, ME, play at local farmers markets and coffeeshops, and are even sketching out plans for a house concert tour in Ireland for the summer of 2019. To those curious about dipping their toes into the world of bluegrass, they offer this advice:
“I came from classical guitar,” says Resa. “The first few times I put that pick in my hand, I dropped it. It was so hard to do! It sounds silly, but don’t give up. Go to a festival, immerse yourself in the music. You can’t play bluegrass music if you don’t have it in your ear.”
Going to a festival is a great way to get introduced to the bluegrass scene
Photo by Aranxa Esteve (via Unsplash)
“Keep an open mind,” adds Emma. “Especially for me with a very strict singing background, there were a lot of times where I was like, ‘I’m not doing that. I refuse.’ You have to trust that you may feel uncomfortable at first, but at the end of the day, once you relax into it, it’s wonderful. It’s a wonderful experience to be able to branch out and do something new.”
“You can’t play bluegrass music if you don’t have it in your ear.”
And the best thing about playing bluegrass? It’s clear from their catchy enthusiasm and endless humor, and Emma confirms on behalf of the band: “I think this is something we can all agree on: if we’re not having fun, then it’s not worth doing it. That keeps me keep coming back, every day!”
Keep an ear out for Miners Creek’s newest EP, “All Stove Up,” coming out on June 23rd.
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