“There ain’t no party like a Chubby party ‘cause a Chubby party don’t stop!”  Chubby Carrier and his gang, hailing from the Louisiana Bayou, had everyone moving in a frenzy as the closing performance of Friday, April 7, the opening night of String Break 2006.  Mitch Lind of Lind Entertainment is responsible for putting on this annual event, in addition to the Riverhawk Festival in November.  The events are currently being hosted by the Sertoma Youth Ranch in Brooksville, a beautiful valley in literally the middle of nowhere (forgive us, Brooksville natives).  The setting couldn’t be more appropriate or fitting for a three-day bluegrass festival.  

Chubby Carrier’s laid back style of zydeco music is embodied not only in his enthusiastic accordion playing, but also by the accompaniment of washboard strumming.  The fact that it is a washboard and a pair of spoons creating the sounds gives the whole performance a down-home feeling, like, “Hey, I could do that too!”  And you can!  Several times during the performance, audience members were pulled on stage to wear the washboard and join in the fun.  

I fell asleep that night to the sounds of Chubby Carrier and awoke the next morning to the Southern melodies of the Juniper Trio.  Their fiddles full of longing and their voices full of compassion, the sound of the women of the Juniper Trio tugs at your heart strings, serving up traditional Southern folk songs that bring happy tears to your eyes.  After catching a few hymns from the Juniper Trio, the second order of Saturday was the vendors.  String Break offers a unique opportunity to mingle with the community of artists that descend upon the festival, a community that consists of men and women more than eager to share their art, stories, love, and lives.  In spite of this, I was drawn out of the vendors’ tents by the sounds of a band called Hot Buttered Rum.  

Something inside of me that I cannot explain (because I did not fully understand it myself) told me that I needed to catch Hot Buttered Rum’s performance.  Hot Buttered Rum is a five-piece string band consisting of a fiddle, an upright bass, a mandolin and two guitars.  All five of the young men that comprise the band sing solos as well as perfectly precise vocal harmonies, as can be heard on their album, “Well-Oiled Machine.”  What caught me off-guard in particular about this group was the relative age of the musicians.  These are young men who should be in a heavy metal band or an alternative rock band, not talking to a bluegrass festival audience about things such as driving their tour bus on vegetable oil.  However, it is partly due their young age that Hot Buttered Rum brought quite an original perspective to the typical bluegrass sound.  Songs such as “Guns or Butter” start in a very traditional place and take you on a journey through inspired jam sessions with an eclectic arrangement that you would not expect to come out of such a performance.  Hot Buttered Rum’s live show left me excited and full of questions.  Luckily, I got a chance to catch up with the guys after their second set that Saturday.  All the bands at String Break contribute to the community experience of the weekend by signing CDs and chatting with fans after they play, and Zac Matthews, the mandolin player for Hot Buttered Rum, was nice enough to answer my burning questions.

REAX: Is this your first time in Florida?

ZM: I went to Orlando to Disney World with my family when I was in high school. Actually, my sister and I got lost from my parents while there.  The band first played in Florida in October of 2004 at the Spirit of the Suwanee Magnolia Festival.  This March and April, we played in Fort Lauderdale at Langerado, and then at Magnolia Springfest.

REAX: At the Sertoma Ranch?

ZM: This was our first visit to the Sertoma Ranch, and our first time playing at String Break Festival.

REAX: How would you rate this visit?

ZM: We really enjoy the intimate, family atmosphere at String Break, and feel warmly received by the festival attendees.

REAX: Where in California is everyone from?

ZM: We are all from the San Francisco Bay area.  Aaron, Erik, and Bryan are from Mill Valley in the North Bay, I’m from Oakland in the East Bay, and Nat is from Los Altos in the South Bay.

REAX: How long have you been playing together?

ZM: Hot Buttered Rum has been touring full time for the past three and a half years.

REAX: How did the band originate and how do you all know each other?

ZM: The band was conceived on a month-long backpacking trip in the Sierra Nevada Mountains in the summer of 1999.  Many of the original songs, and the essence of Hot Buttered Rum, evolved from our shared passion for the wilderness and outdoor adventure in the mountains.  Bryan and I were college friends and musical conspirators from UC San Diego.  Erik and Nat went to Lewis & Clark College and began playing music together there.  Aaron played in the high school orchestra with Bryan.

REAX: As young men, what attracted you to bluegrass over other styles you could be playing or might be expected to be playing?

ZM: While our music is rooted in the bluegrass tradition, we do not consider ourselves to be a traditional bluegrass band.  Bluegrass is a truly American music in that it originated in America, but it incorporates elements from several different musical traditions: Scottish/Irish, West African, and Gospel.  In this way, it reflects the diverse, multi-ethnic heritage of Americans.  Bluegrass is appealing to us because it is so rooted in traditional genres, yet it is its own sound separate from these traditions.  We are interested in grounding ourselves in tradition while simultaneously stretching out to develop our own unique sound.
In part, our instrumentation and lack of drums originally steered us in the direction of bluegrass.  Also, Bluegrass is often considered to be "mountain music" since it originated in the hills of Kentucky, and the songs tell stories of life in the mountains.  Our own songwriting is inspired by the Sierra Nevada Mountains of California and the West, but our sound diverges from bluegrass in that we incorporate many different styles such as rock, pop, jazz, swing, and classical.  With four songwriters and five different singing voices, our sound continues to evolve into its own unique style.

REAX: How would you describe your sound to someone who has never heard your songs?

ZM: A Hot Buttered Rum show is a unique acoustic experience incorporating audience and band into a joyous exchange of energy.  The songs are honest and touching to the full palate of emotions.

REAX: What do Reax readers need to know about running their cars on vegetable oil?

ZM: The original diesel engine exhibited at the world's fair in 1900 ran on peanut oil.  Any diesel engine today can run on vegetable oil, but you must install a tank with a heater in order to heat the oil.  If you do not want to modify your vehicle, you can run a diesel engine on biodiesel which is made from vegetable oil.  There are many advantages to using biofuels instead of petrol fuels—vegetable oil is a non-toxic, biodegradable, domestically produced, renewable energy source.  Although burning vegetable oil does release carbon into the atmosphere, this same carbon is pulled back out of the atmosphere by growing more crops.  Using vegetable oil-based fuels alleviates the expense of importing foreign oil, and fighting wars to secure access to a rapidly diminishing, nonrenewable resource.

REAX: What experiences/influences brought the band to environmental concerns/interests?

The Bay Area, like many other big cities, is a hotbed of environmental and social consciousness and progressive thinking.  We first learned about alternative fuel at a workshop in Berkeley.  Regardless of where you live, it is becoming increasingly difficult to ignore the environmental devastation and social inequality that exists in the world today.   As musicians, we are afforded the unique opportunity to sing to people.  Through our songs, we tell stories and convey a message.   Songs like "Well Oiled Machine," the title track of our new album, teach people about the benefits of alternative fuel.  We want to be a voice of positive change in this country and in the world.


During the intermission between the afternoon and night performances by Hot Buttered Rum, I was able to catch a few other bands that are worth mentioning.  Of all of them, I must mention a Lakeland-based group called Foothill.  The level of expertise of all the musicians on hand at String Break is unquestionable, including Foothill, who above all were simply having a great time doing what they love and playing great music.

On Sunday morning, I packed up my stuff, popped my newly acquired Hot Buttered Rum CD in the stereo and drove off.  I waved goodbye to my first String Break festival, but it certainly won’t be my last.