Bluegrass innovators ride wave of success into Interstellar Rodeo
Nate Hilt of The Dead South has never been past Quebec in his entire life.
That’s pretty surprising given his band’s success in Europe and the United States, where their latest album, 2016’s Illusion and Doubt, jumped to No. 5 on the bluegrass charts. Chalk it up to logistics, and the distances that Canadian bands need to travel to be heard. It’s much easier to head overseas, where time between cities is not as huge.
“This is actually the first time in a while that we haven’t toured Germany three times in one year,” Hilt wryly notes. “We’ve been concentrating on America, and to some degree Canada.”
The Regina-based four-piece have been at it since 2012, when Hilts and cellist Danny Kenyon decided to form a more rocking and very raucous boot-stomping version of what traditionally passes for bluegrass. Multiinstrumentalist Scott Pringle and banjo player Colton Crawford signed up for the ride, which turned out to be more than Crawford could handle, as the band almost immediately began years of touring and recording, releasing an EP and debut album (2014’s Good Company) while finding a dedicated audience in Europe. Banjo player Eliza Mary Doyle took over from Crawford in 2016, just as cellist Erik Mehlson came on board for road trips to spell out Kenyon, who still acts as a recording member of the band.
We spoke with Hilts about the bands’ ever mutating music, success in America, and the importance of sleeping.
Q You lost original banjo player Colton Crawford to exhaustion; is this something that you guys are now aware of watching for?
A Oh yeah, because that was absolutely a big blow. Everyone now has their physical activities to keep healthy, and we get as much sleep as we can. We open up dialogues to check in, make sure everyone is all right.
Q I guess that having sudden success can just kill a band. Have you also had to deal with being a bluegrass band dealing in non-traditional bluegrass?
A A little, though we don’t really refer to ourselves as a bluegrass band. In fact, it’s tough when people ask what we play, because we still don’t know what to call it.
Q When the originators of bluegrass started playing they weren’t necessarily trying to start a movement.
A That’s the thing; Bill Monroe also stepped away from the standards when he started playing it. Bluegrass is a huge inspiration in what we do, but there’s more than that in our music.
Q Your latest album, Illusion and Doubt, turned into a big hit on the bluegrass charts in America. Was it strange to find yourself so popular in the land that gave us that form of music?
A It was amazing, because we were greeted with open arms in the States. We were so nervous to go down there, but it seems like people really loved what we did. They were mad when we didn’t visit some of their cities.
Q It’s been two years since the album was released, and you’ve been on the road for most of that time. Have you started thinking of a followup?
A We’re getting there. I’ve noticed that a couple of songs I’ve been writing have had something of a calmer approach than what we usually do. Usually we start off fast, and then try to slow down in parts, but now it’s almost opposite. I feel like I’m hearing spaghetti western sounds in my head, and that’s going to be a thing for the next one.
Q Are you trying not to overthink the next album?
A Yeah. We got to the point where we realized that people are actually listening to the lyrics, and that gives you a bit of a mental block. When we first started writing songs they would come out easy, and we’d just play them. We need to keep with that; the songs have to progress naturally. You gotta write music for yourself, anyways. You can’t expect an audience to like what you do if you yourself don’t like it.