2006 Best Folk/Americana Performer
44.63% Legendary Trainhoppers*
Others with Votes (more than one):
* On the ballot | 
Thursday's Whammy show will be remembered as a bittersweet night for Matt Kelley and the Trainhoppers. While the folk sextet won the Whammy for Best Americana/Folk performer, their performance on the Whammy stage is likely to be one of their last. The Trainhoppers (formerly the Legendary Trainhoppers, a tongue-in-cheek conceit that was dispatched when guitarist and former member Matt Sturm struck out for the Big Apple) had a successful go at it during their two years of their existence, but the concept may have run its course. Comprised of members of favorite local bands (the Brown Bottle Band contributes Dan Smith on guitar and vocals, Damian Miller on bass and vocals, Phil Potts on lead guitar and Jon Ross on drums; from Go Dog Go, who are currently on indefinite hiatus, there's Chris Dodds on piano, guitar and vocals and Kelley on mandolin and high-strung guitar), Kelley said the original thought was to get together to play some music and have some fun away from the stress of regular band duties. Ironically, the break turned more serious than the regular band duties and, as Kelley put it, "small seams have started to show. Creative differences have arisen that are really putting things on hold." Right from the beginning, expectations for the Trainhoppers were high. With the help of Monkey Wings Records' Jeff Britton, The Trainhoppers got a shot at national exposure when they ventured westward to record a CD with (legendary in his own right) producer Scott Mathews. The result, Ramble On, offered what you could expect from a band with that much talent – well crafted and well played songs that were professionally written and recorded. Which turned out to be part of the problem. "That was such a huge bonding experience," Kelley said. "We recorded 12 songs in six days. That's what I liked – doing it Dylan style. Also working with a producer of that stature. But, concessions were made. That's the thing with the second record we're working on. We said 'let's chase down something that sounds a little uglier, a little less polished.'" So they all started writing new songs and wound up with 38 songs spread out over two demos. But with so much material from so many writers, the problem became trying to find a cohesiveness that would make the record sound like a band and not a compilation of disparate songwriters. "We're trying to figure out the dimensions of the thing," Kelley said. "But after this weekend we're going to take a break and then revisit it this summer or later and see if we can we get over the problems we have. If we're gonna make an album, I want it so good that people will talk about it for years. When you talk like that it creates high stakes." (Mark Hunter) |
Copyright 2007 Ad Media Inc.