PUTNEY — Northern California–based AJ Lee & Blue Summit and southern Vermont–based The Stockwell Brothers play a double bill of contemporary bluegrass and Americana music from far and near on Saturday, Nov. 5 at 7:30 p.m. at Next Stage at 15 Kimball Hill.
“This concert has been in the works for 2 1/2 years,” Barry Stockwell, one of the founders of Next Stage, says. “We had Blue Summit booked for the summer of 2020, but due to the pandemic we couldn't make it work until now.”
“I really like the way they start with bluegrass instruments, arrangements, and harmonies but draw from so many different musical genres to create their own sound,” he adds. “The Stockwell Brothers have been doing that sort of thing for over 50 years, and I really wanted to pair the two bands.”
As described in a press release, AJ Lee & Blue Summit draws from influences such as country, soul, swing, rock, and jam music, and the group uses the lens of bluegrass “as a vessel through which to express and explore the thread that binds and unifies all great music.”
The band made its first appearance in Santa Cruz in 2015. Led by singer, songwriter, and mandolinist AJ Lee, the band has performed all over the world, but finds home in the San Francisco Bay Area.
In 2019, the group released its debut album, Like I Used To. A second full-length project, I'll Come Back, came out in 2021, and the band is continuing to tour in support of the record.
The band includes Sullivan Tuttle and Scott Gates on acoustic guitars, Lee on lead vocals and mandolin, Jan Purat on fiddle, and Chad Bowen on acoustic bass.
Vermont based The Stockwell Brothers includes band members Bruce, Barry, Alan, and Kelly Stockwell. Their music spans traditional and progressive styles, but their trademark acoustic sound features new singer/songwriter material recast with banjo, alternative rhythms, and three-part harmonies.
They cover straight-ahead bluegrass songs, finger-picked acoustic guitar ballads, full-tilt breakdowns, and traditional mandolin tunes mixed in with more unusual fare - Americana melodies riding world-beat grooves and Celtic, jazzy, neo-classical instrumentals.
Featuring 2005 Merlefest bluegrass banjo contest winner Bruce Stockwell, The Stockwell Brothers have performed alongside artists like Bill Monroe, Doc Watson, Earl Scruggs, Mary Chapin Carpenter, Jonathan Edwards, and Asleep at the Wheel, recorded with Mike Auldridge and Phil Rosenthal of the bluegrass supergroup The Seldom Scene, and toured throughout the United States and in Canada and Europe.
Next Stage Arts is at 15 Kimball Hill, Putney. Tickets are $22 in advance from nextstagearts.org, or $25 at the door. For information, call 802-387-0102. Next Stage will provide a beer, wine, and cocktail cash bar.
The Commons spoke by phone recently with AJ Lee from her home in Santa Cruz, Calif. Here's an excerpt of the conversation.
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Victoria Chertok: We're looking forward to having your band play in Vermont on Saturday. How did this East Coast tour come about?
AJ Lee: We've been trying to get out on the East Coast since everything is opened up again. We're touring a lot, and it's been a pretty packed year of performances. We are trying to play as many places as we can. We are looking forward to playing in Vermont; it will be our first time playing in the state.
V.C.: Do you write all of your own music?
A.J.L.: Yes, we've released two albums of all-original material and, you know, we throw in a few traditional bluegrass songs here and there and try to mix it up a bit.
V.C.: What can the audience expect from your show in Putney?
A.J.L.: We actually have four singers in our band. I sing a majority of the songs, and we do a lot of harmonies for the songs. Scott Gates is one of the guitar players who is also a songwriter as well, so we will be showcasing a few of his songs, too.
V.C.: Was the mandolin your first instrument?
A.J.L.: My mom, folk singer Betsy Riger, started me on a ukulele that was tuned to a mandolin when I was about 4 years old. She wanted to start me on a small instrument since I had such small hands. Then she transitioned me to a mandolin. When I was 5, I joined the California Bluegrass Association's kids programs; they host various festivals.
I would sing with my mom. She would take me to some open mic nights at pizzerias, and we would sing a few gospel songs together. I might have still been in diapers! My mom still lives in Tracy, California, where I was raised.
V.C.: What drew you to this type of music?
A.J.L.: I was always drawn to bluegrass and country because that is what my mom was into. There would be a lot of other kids who played bluegrass at those kids' programs, and I made friends there.
A lot of my best friends today I met when we were little. We just kept doing the same thing. Playing bluegrass and singing together.
Everyone in the band likes different genres of music, but we never found anything as fun to play as bluegrass - it's so community based, and you get to share a lot with other people...that's why we gravitate to it to this day.
V.C.: Who were some of your early music influences?
A.J.L.: I listened to the great classics. There is Tony Rice. Obviously, there is Bill Monroe, the father of bluegrass. Alison Krauss. Rhonda Vincent. A lot of other female artists.
As far as songwriting goes, I draw influences from my friends.
I don't really try to make anything sound like a particular artist - it's how my friends make me feel, how my family makes me feel, and you kind of put it down on paper and see how it comes out. See how my style reflects those feelings.