Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, November 19, 1993 TAG: 9311190050
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: 1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: By SETH WILLIAMSON SPECIAL TO THE ROANOKE TIMES & WORLD-NEWS
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
The young Denver-based unit, ballyhooed by Bluegrass Unlimited magazine as "one of the impact bands of the '90s," has pulled off a bluegrass hat trick: simultaneously pleasing hard-core traditionalists and newgrass fans as well.
And speaking of hats, these guys have an unambiguously Western look. In his black Stetson, banjoist Ron Lynam resembles a gun-slinging outlaw, and lead singer Bob Amos' headgear is perfect for a Colorado cowhand. Add string ties and vests, and the effect is definitely not Appalachian.
Formed a decade ago by an oil-prospecting geologist and a counselor at a children's hospital, Front Range got its big break two years ago at the International Bluegrass Music Association meeting in Owensboro, Ky. Since then, the band's compact discs on the Sugar Hill label have roosted at the top of the bluegrass trade charts.
"Actually, if we had known from the first that we'd eventually have a national reputation, we might have chosen another name," said guitarist Bob Amos, who was interviewed by telephone Tuesday night where the band is on tour in Nashville, Tenn.
"As it is, we keep getting asked, `Why would you name yourself after a kitchen appliance?' "
Amos, who studied volcanoes as a geology graduate student at Arizona State University and later searched for oil, says that the Front Range is the eastern-most line of mountains in the Rockies. The name fits the band's Rocky Mountain image, along with songs like "The Cowboy," "Plains of the Buffalo" and "Back to Red River."
Virginians may have a proprietary feeling about bluegrass music as a home-grown product, but native Appalachian grass has been a vigorous transplant in the Rockies for more than two decades. The now-disbanded supergroup Hot Rize was based in Colorado, as are most members of the bluegrass-influenced rock group the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band. The Bluegrass Patriots, another hot young band, also works from Colorado.
Amos has an unlikely background for a lead singer in a cowboy bluegrass band. The son of a teacher at an exclusive Episcopalian prep school in Delaware, he was a boy chorister and grew up in the Anglican choral tradition, as he attended the same private school.
But when he first heard Earl Scruggs play the "Beverly Hillbillies" theme on television, his life turned a major artistic corner. The conversion was complete when a carpenter at the school, whom he describes as "my first bluegrass mentor," helped him learn his first licks on the banjo.
Front Range's other members include mandolinist and founding member Mike Lantz, who works part-time as a counselor at Denver Children's Hospital. Banjoist Ron Lynam is a high school history teacher who is on leave from his teaching job. Bassist Bob Dick, who has a classical and jazz background, is one of the few professional bluegrass bassists who have studied at the Berklee College of Music in Boston.
Amos says Dick is one of the few bassists in bluegrass who isn't playing bass merely because he wasn't good enough for some other instrument.
"He did all this other stuff, the classical and the jazz, just so he could come back to bluegrass with new ideas," said Amos. "He's a rare bird, a totally devoted bluegrass bass player, with incredible ideas and technique and tone."
Though Hollins College is a long way from Colorado, Western Virginia is close to Front Range's spiritual and artistic center: the raw-edged, primeval Stanley Brothers sound. One of bluegrass music's formative bands, Ralph and Carter Stanley and the Clinch Mountain Boys, has been a major influence on Amos and the rest of his band.
"It was the emotional content of that music, one of the most heartfelt and emotional types of music I had ever heard, the bluesy lonesome Stanley-style harmony singing, and that modal sound they had, that just reached out and grabbed me," said Amos.
Some younger Stanley-influenced bands, such as the Gillis Brothers, pay their respects by sounding like a '90s incarnation of the earlier group. But the Stanley influence on Front Range's smooth vocal blend is more subtle.
"We never wanted to copy any specific sound. From the beginning we wanted to create our own sound. There's so many great bands out there who play hard traditional bluegrass so well that, if you want to succeed, you pretty much have to do your own thing," said Amos.
Doing your own material instead of running through "Dear Old Dixie" for the umpteenth time is the best way to create your own identity. Almost all the songs on the group's last two CDs - "Back to Red River" and "The New Frontier" - are originals, and 70 percent of their stage show is original as well.
Bill Vernon of Franklin County, an award-winning bluegrass broadcaster and writer, likes the group's emphasis on new material, traditionally interpreted.
"These guys exemplify where bluegrass is now. Their music is strong, honest, capable, clean-cut. They're rooted in tradition, and from that tradition they've crafted a solid mainstream sound without feeling the need to introduce any artificial non-bluegrass ingredients," said Vernon.
Opening for Front Range on Saturday night will be longtime local favorites the Lost & Found of Ferrum. The concert is sponsored as an experiment by the Roanoke-based bluegrass label Copper Creek.
Label chief Gary Reid said he wants Roanoke audiences to experience bluegrass in a venue other than the typical small club or outdoor environment.
"No offense to the bars and clubs that have served bluegrass well, but we want to show that bluegrass can work well in a concert situation in a prime acoustic space like the Little Theater at Hollins."
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