HORSESHOE ROAD ON SILK ROAD THE
Kyle Dillingham, Peter Markes discuss recent tour in China
Mornings pair well with quiet and coffee. Not on this Monday.
I wasn’t expecting an impromptu concert when I walked into Elemental Coffee for an interview with Kyle Dillingham and Peter Markes. Oklahoma’s musical ambassador started strumming a zhongruan, while Markes readied his violin. The duo greeted the rising sun with a couple of spirited Americana numbers. Two baristas and a few surprised customers smiled almost as big as the performers did.
This wasn’t the first time Kyle Dillingham and Horseshoe Road have stunned a crowd. In September, the Oklahoma City-based band were traveling throughout China. Between concerts and a number of prescheduled cultural exchanges, a little spontaneity was added into the mix. Picture a huge room full of people whose first language isn’t English. Your best bet to communicate effectively is to wait patiently for your turn to speak to a translator.
Bassist Brent Saulsbury and Markes helped Dillingham deliver a Cherokee blanket to Gov. Tang Renjian and started shedding formality during a special meeting. Rather than continuing to talk about Oklahoma, they shared it firsthand with a rendition of “I’ll Fly Away.”
“It was just a way to say, ‘Here we are. We share and celebrate a long friendship together as sister states with the province of Gansu.’” Dillingham told The Oklahoman.
“Any time you go somewhere, you’re always representing something more than yourself. Whether you’re conscious of it or not.”
Following a performance at the Silk Road Festival in Xi’an, the band was also invited to perform at the Second Annual Silk Road International Cultural Expo in Dunhuang. It was Dillingham’s 12th visit to China, and his mission remains the same.
“If I’m a brother or sister with someone, we’re much less likely to be adversaries,” he said. “We’re less likely to be at war. We’re more likely to share a meal. So, how do we synthesize that for our friends in Oklahoma? That’s what we have to figure out.”
Making a connection
More than 20 years before becoming one of the first people to perform Americana music in Dunhuang, Dillingham made a decision that shaped the path of Horseshoe Road.
“There was a time where every day I would hear somebody say, ‘A talent like yours, you should be in Nashville. What are you doing in Oklahoma?’” Dillingham said. “But I was making a conscious effort and decision to stay in Oklahoma to invest my talent, career and energies into the development of the entertainment industry in our state . ... If I were anywhere else, a trip like this wouldn’t have happened.”
However, it was Markes’ decision that made this recent trip a little louder. The 2014 Oklahoma Teacher of the Year resigned in May after more than 15 years of teaching. His plan to pursue music full time allowed Horseshoe Road to make a larger impact overseas.
“The biggest thing — and I felt like I realized it on this tour because we’re performing so regularly since my resignation — was how I feel very wholly invested in performing,” Markes said. “I feel like it has shaped my drive to improve. Then, of course, it changed the dynamic of the full-band performance.”
It allowed for the band to grow closer together, Markes said.
“I saw more impromptu performances,” Markes said. “That’s why we’re there.”
Coffee shops and night markets are a potential stage. Horseshoe Road even started a dance party in a hotel lobby. Moments like that helped close the gap between other Cultural Expo performers and hotel staff ready to bust a move. At one point, the band met a group of elementary school children learning about reporting. One junior reporter asked what type of performance the band liked best.
“Our favorite performances involve any place you can connect,” Markes said. “I don’t know if there’s anything you can write down with pen and paper that’s a measurable outcome of this trip, but so many qualitative things made this a new chapter for us as a band.”
The road goes on
My early morning coffeehouse concert made a lot more sense when I learned how willing Horseshoe Road is to connect. In Qingyang, the band learned last minute that a scheduled “exchange opportunity” meant playing with a traditional Chinese orchestra. Lights, curtains and formal dress all ready to go at 8 a.m.
“They had several soloists playing instruments I’d never seen before in my life, like something out of ‘Narnia,’” Markes said. “Our translator said they asked us to join the last number, which ended up being Johann Strauss’ ‘Radetzky March.’ Luckily, they had sheet music for us. We all played together it was and it was amazing.”
Last month’s run of overseas concerts put Kyle Dillingham and Co. in the same room with performers from all over the world, too. Representatives from Greece, New Zealand and Afghanistan traveled to the United States via the Horseshoe Road. The recent trip has led to more invitations.
“It’s one thing to be asked to go somewhere but then when there’s that immediate invitation to come back and you haven’t even left. You start feeling like it has really been a success,” Dillingham said. “How many Silk Road tours do you get? We’ll get more mileage out of these jackets.”
During our interview, the band was wearing matching black jackets. The same ones they wore in China. At this rate, they might never need to take them off.
“We’re very proud to represent our state and represent American music to the best of our abilities,” Markes said. “We look forward to continuing this path with East Asia, around the world and in Oklahoma, too.”