Songs of Water wants to thrive in hometown's creative scene

Thursday, June 3, 2010
By Carole Perkins
Special to Go Triad

Although Songs of Water packs theaters in Charlotte and fans in Norway and Sweden feast on their CDs, Greensboro has been deprived of their delightful smorgasbord of music, featuring instruments such as the Irish bouzouki blended with bluegrass icon Ricky Skaggs' fretless banjo.

But that's about to change.

This summer, Songs of Water returns to their Greensboro roots for the release of their second album, "The Sea Has Spoken," featuring guest appearances by Skaggs and tuba player Mark Daumen from Chapel Hill band Lost in Trees.

"The Sea Has Spoken" is a brilliantly crafted musical journey where indigenous sounds from myriad cultures blend in otherworldly harmonies that are somehow familiar.

Founder Stephen Roach is a self-taught hammered dulcimer player, guitarist and African percussionist, as well as vocalist and songwriter. His blood runs rich with musical DNA from a large family of bluegrass musicians. His cousin, Tony Rice, played with Skaggs in the 1980s, inspiring the song "The Family Tree," about the coincidence of Roach playing with Skaggs some 20 years later.

"I had a conglomerate of musical backgrounds that I wanted to do something with," says Roach, who started playing and writing with his friend and co-founder of the band, Jason Windsor, in 2002. "I had the idea to do an instrumental album using all these instruments and cultural backgrounds, so we did our first album together, and the band came out of that."

Roach met Skaggs' son and daughter, Luke and Molly Skaggs, on tour in California, and Luke Skaggs joined the band, taking it to a new level. Ricky Skaggs became a big supporter and offered his studio, Skaggs Place Studio in Nashville, Tenn. Most of the main tracks were recorded there by Charlotte producer Joel Khouri who finished the album at his Bright City Studios. Wake Forest University allowed the band to use its instruments for the recording.

"We worked on this album almost two years to get it the way we wanted it," Roach says. "We wanted 'The Sea Has Spoken' to be a work of art. Like classical music, it has different movements inside of one larger body of work. You almost have to listen to it as a whole work. It's such a journey from beginning to end."

The eight members of Songs of Water are as eclectic as their music. Classically trained violinist Marta Richardson, cellist Sarah Stephens and guitarist Windsor complement Roach and Luke Skaggs' folk, bluegrass and world music studies. Guitar player Greg Willette offers Eastern European gypsy influences; Molly Skaggs contributes Appalachian folk music roots. Michael Pritchard's polyrhythmic drum textures anchor the band with a tasteful and experimental style.

"We're constantly searching out new sounds and new ways to express creativity in our art and music," Roach says. "But the music is not so much world music as it is American music in the truest sense because there are so many cultures represented in this area, it's a natural transition to incorporate those sounds and then employ them into instruments. We'll do some old spirituals from the Appalachian Mountains but then accompany it with something from Africa."

Roach says the band's live performances are where most of that energy comes to life by causing audiences to fall silent while playing in theater settings or whipping them into a frenzy at larger festivals.

Because 75 percent of the music is instrumental, the audience is invited to create their own story about what the song is about. Some of the songs are named by the audience members who sometimes bring their own canvases or writing journals to express what they hear.

Songs of Water continues to stretch musical imaginations with national attention on the top 20 list on the NPR syndicated radio program "Echoes" and guest appearances on several local radio shows, including WFDD (88.5 FM). But Roach says they want to focus on becoming a voice in their hometown of Greensboro.

"We love Greensboro," Roach says. "Most of the band is from here, and we really believe this place thrives with music and art because there are so many creative people here. I think people are looking for something new and different, but they are also looking for something authentic. That's what we want to give is an authentic expression."



Contact Carole Perkins at CPGuilford@aol.com