The Coloradas / Review and Interview

Roy Davis and the Dregs' alt-country flavored Deadweight (2008) was one of those nuggets that make listening to all the "free" music worthwhile. Davis and company (some old and some new) shift gears on The Coloradas' self-titled debut swerving into the bluegrass lane while retaining much of what initially made me a fan. Davis is a talented songwriter with a voice that at times recalls Jeff Tweedy and (early pre-falsetto) Ryan Adams but The Coloradas is more of a band effort than Davis' previous albums and might have more in common with Gillian Welch and David Rawlings' take on rural music than the previous mentioned alt-country icons.  Frequent collaborator Bernie Nye handles lead vocals on several tracks including the questionably optimistic hardluck  "A Brand New Day".  The dozen drum-free tracks have a rustic feel closer to front porch folk  music rather than either traditional bluegrass or newgrass.  Hailing from Portland Maine The Coloradas probably aren't sitting on their front porch picking and singing their version of rural mountain music in January but that's what I see when I put on their disc and close my eyes. You can listen to complete tracks from the album here and you can check out the video for "Crooked Youth" following the interview with Roy.

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HB-Congratulations on your new disc by The Coloradas! How did it end up as a band project rather than another Roy Davis disc?

RD-Thanks Hal, we're totally excited about it. Bernie and I have been collaborating for so long (on all of the three albums under my own name), and he's always been a part of the songwriting process, but this is the first time I convinced him to let us record three of his songs, with him singing. "A Brand New Day", "Red Dress", and "Enid" all feature Bernie. And they are amazing songs. Putting it out under a band name is something I've always wanted to do, and finally decided to go for it with this one. Also, we met Joe Walsh, Amanda Kowalski and Steve Roy in Portland last winter, who are all locally residing but nationally and internationally renowned bluegrass musicians, and their creativity was such a big part of this record that it only made to sense to release it as a collaborative effort.

HB-I hear bluegrass influences but also Todd Snider ("A Brand New Day") and Steve Earle's Train A Comin'album.

RD-Those are both generous comparisons. Steve Earle is one of my favorite songwriters, I really like most of his older records, and the latest (I'll Never Get out of This World Alive) is pretty excellent. The two prior I didn't really get into. Like a lot of my favorite songwriters, he's really good at telling a story from the perspective of one of the characters, rather than his own.

HB-I know you've shared the stage with Girls Guns and Glory. I wish I could have seen that show!

RD-GG&G are both a staggeringly entertaining band, and top notch fellows. Ward has an incredible voice that is much louder and more expressive than you'd expect after a conversation with him. He's a pretty modest and polite guy. We'd love to come play with those guys down your way! I'll mention it to him next time I see him.

HB-Who have you been listening to lately?

RD-I just re-bought this album that I used to listen to a lot when I was in high school and had lost along the way. Marc Ribot, who played guitar for Tom Waits among others, put out a couple records with a group of cuban musicians and called it Los Cubanos Postizos. Many of his records are more straight forward jazz, and I don't get too excited over lots of jazz records, but that one is very simple and thoughtful and I've been listening to it a lot. Ribot is an amazing guitarist. I'd like to get better at lead guitar (not for this project, really, but for the future). I spend most of my time so focused on songwriting that tricky guitar work falls by the wayside. Best left to the professionals, I guess. Joe Walsh, who plays mandolin on this Coloradas record, is a creative and melodic force. Playing lightning fast and technically accurate are always trumped by a sense of melody and tastefulness in my book, and Joe has all of those things.

As far as songwriters: David Bazan, Gillian Welch, that Bob Dylan guy, Immortal Technique.

HB-Any tour dates for the Coloradas?

RD-Right now, we're just playing regionally through January and February, doing CD release events in Portland here (January 20th at One Longfellow Square) and Portsmouth (January 16th at The Red Door). Winter is a slower season for most bluegrass-type bands, so we'll be hitting the road in the spring and summer and heading all over. Also, Europe in Spring! We've connected with a cool independent label out of Dresden, Germany called Hometown Caravan, who is printing this Coloradas record on vinyl for us and we're looking to play and promote the record overseas in the spring and summer.

HB-Anything special planned for the CD release party?

RD- The CD release party is January 20th at One Longfellow Square, my favorite place to play in Maine. They have great sound and a cool atmosphere. Listening-type rooms are always my cup of tea (am I getting old?). We have help from lots and lots of incredible Maine bluegrass musicians, including the aforementioned Joe Walsh and Steve Roy, plus Seth Doyle, Tyler Lienhardt, Calvin Goodale, and Willy Crichton. We have special guests This Way playing a opening set.

HB-What were you doing in Europe? Work or play?

RD- A little bit of both. My girlfriend is Austrian and lives in Bregenz, right next to the German and Swiss borders. So I took a couple months to visit her, and I ended up connecting with Elmer Rabes at Hometown Caravan Records and we decided to work together to release the album on vinyl in Europe. All the while, I had lots of work to do to prepare for this CD release here in the US. Being an independent musician has lots of perks when it comes to control over creativity and deadlines, setting your own schedule etc. but it also involves lots of boring, clerical duties that I can't afford to outsource. But as long as it means nobody owns me, I don't mind doing it. Especially if I can do it in the Austrian Alps.

HB-Thanks Roy and I hope to see you in NC!

Roy Davis (guitar, vocals, songs)
Bernie Nye (banjo, guitar, harmonica, vocals, songs)
Joe Walsh (mandolin, vocals)
Amanda Kowalski (upright bass)
Calvin Goodale (vocals)
Steve Roy (upright bass, fiddle, vocals)
Jon Nolan (tambo,vocals, recording guru)

Originally published at NoDepression.