Tinsley strings together new group
Crystal Garden, backed by Dave Matthews Band violinist, touring Canada
Boyd Tinsley had only one thing in mind when putting together Crystal Garden. On the phone from his country estate near Charlottesville, Va., the violinist for the Dave Matthews Band explains why he spent two years scouring Canada to audition the right musicians for the band he produced and is on tour with.
“I just wanted to make a bad-ass young rock band,” said Tinsley. “Take some fresh musicians and make a project that wasn’t pop, but really classic rock. The first year, I went the more traditional route of checking entertainment agencies and talent managers and so forth, but that just didn’t produce the right things.”
Much like the Dave Matthews Band, Tinsley realized that if the project didn’t come together organically, neither would the sound. Given the demanding tour schedule of the DMB, the violinist was obliged to put things on the back burner. Naturally, that proved to be when the project took shape. The first musician Tinsley settled on — San Francisco trumpeter James Frost-Winn — is no longer with Crystal Garden, but was key to the sound coming together. The singer came next.
“For years, a security guard who worked at the studio had told me about this singer friend of his from Seattle named Mycle Wastman, who he really thought I should hear,” he said. “As it happened, we were in New York and Mycle was playing at some really small place and I went to see him and halfway through the first song it was obvious: That’s my singer.”
A part of Team CeeLo Green on Season 3 of NBC’s The Voice, Wastman was eliminated in the knockout rounds and had been looking for something new. But finding the rhythm section was proving harder than expected. Tinsley opted to put out international calls.
“I have always been blown by the level of musicianship in Canada, so I reached out to a DJ friend of mine in Toronto over and over again if he knew any people that could really rock,” said Tinsley. “The third time, he went, ‘Yeah, my roommates.’ And bassist Charlie Csontos and drummer Matt Frewen had the right chops, the right personalities and we had a band.”
The group began working on its Tinsley-produced debut album Let the Rocks Cry Out, which is due for release in 2017. While at the initial sessions at Tinsley’s home studio, bassist Csontos noticed a lot of loose quartz crystals around the grounds. The musicians gathered about 50 or so of them and laid them out in the studio. The name Crystal Garden arrived — again, organically. Now relocated, the band finished up recording in Seattle with Tinsley and guitarist Stanley Jordan as guests.
Crystal Garden played its debut show April 12 at the Paramount Theatre in Charlottesville. According to a review on jambands.com, the group nailed its first big performance. Now it’s on tour across Canada with Tinsley sitting in.
“The DMB is taking 2017 off, so I have time to sit in with them right now,” he said. “Eventually, they will be out headlining on their own. But I’m having such a great time with them because they are such great musicians and the shows have been a blast.”
After the Canadian tour, Crystal Garden will pursue an American tour following the album release and from there, who knows? There is no denying having friends like Tinsley can’t hurt in building a career.