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Jere Mendelsohn and Steph Bettman |
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Singer/songwriter/fiddler Stephanie K. Bettman left New Mexico for the big
city of Los Angeles, fiddle and song book in hand. There were other stops
along the way, and since, including some Asian concertizing. Arriving
here, she met Canadian Dave Kilner, who performs on the stand-up bass, and
in their first collaboration, a felicitous synchronicity was found. Within
a short while, the rest of the group assembled, with Mr. Jere Mendelsohn
on acoustic guitar, together with mandolinist and melodist Dave Campbell.
With only four practice sessions together, the group took the stage Monday night, October 24th, at O'Brien's Pub on Main Street in Santa Monica. In a set of about an hour, they provided a bevy of original tunes in the classic bluegrass and mountain/folk tradition, showing chemistry, humor, and glimpses of daft zaniness, as well as doing a stirring cover of Rocky Top, Tennessee. Stephanie wrote the originals, with the band generally collaborating on arrangements |
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| Stephanie can hold the limelight
just singing and being herself, although her fiddle's voice adds a great
lilt to the mix. Mr. Campbell doubles on backing vocals very nicely, and
plays the mandolin to a fare-thee-well. He strums rhythm chords when the
tune calls for that, and picks the melodies with precision, vigor and
feeling, as the tune allows. Mr. Mendelsohn on the acoustic guitar brings
a good breadth of experience to the instrument, showing restraint,
teamwork and a splendid sense of rhythm all of the time. But when he wants
to pick some lead, the level of expertise on the instrument is like that
of Clint Black's "The Claw" in The Sounds of Wood and Steel
collection: good enough to stand alone. Mr. Dave Kilner puts rhythmic impulse into the music, laying down a foundation on bass. In the between-songs chatter of the musicians, Jere was heard expounding on the ostinato to one of the others, and it would be credible if Mr. Kilner plays a passacaglia on occasion. |
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| The group could clearly jam on many of their tunes for a good while, but they cohere very well, and given the brevity of their collaboration, it is obvious they will grow tighter and more harmoniously coordinated over time (and not very much more time). Stephanie's stage persona is highly engaging. As the one at center stage, she carries the burden of audience attention very well. Imagining her before a forty piece dance band in a long blue dress singing into a big RKO-style microphone from the 30s or 40s is not at all difficult. | |
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Stephanie's violin studies began at age eight, and her musical education expanded to branch into singing as well, at thirteen. She continued her voice studies at the Oberlin Conservatory of Music, and has worked in classical as well as popular forms of music. She can play her instrument both as a concert violin and a theatrical fiddle, a nice breadth of skill which lets her improvisations take flight.
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| She has an openness and humor that makes her music more accessible. At times, one wonders at the cause of the humor, but the mystery makes things more interesting, and not less. Those appreciating traditional folk music and roots music, bluegrass and "newgrass," will find much to like about this group of musicians. | |
