Goldmine Pickers

5.30.2009

The Electric Brew

Goshen, IN

3 Irish Tunes*>Cooley's Reel, Dance All Night, My Anxious Heart, Shove That Pigs Foot A Little Further Into the Fire, Barroom Queen, Barroom Waltz, The Split, Corn Fed Girls, Far From Shore, After Yeats>Wool Shirt Rag>After Yeats>Queen's Confessor, Mud, Green Shores Of Africa, Don't Leave Me Here Tonight, The Ballad Of Willie Johnson, Canadian Bacon, Cold Coffee, Sour Oats

*Unnamed Fiddle Tunes

Go to www.myspace.com/goldminepickers to check out some of their music

A music scene is probably not the first thing that you think of when someone mentions northern Indiana to you.  Vast corn fields or huge trailer parks may come to mind, but music…not so much.  Umphrey’s McGee and Lotus pretty much changed that perception, at least for fans of live music.  The members of UM met at the University of Notre Dame in South Bend, IN and Lotus teamed up on the campus of Goshen college in Goshen, IN. 

Four piece bluegrass band the Goldmine Pickers are trying to continue to build a musical legacy for Northern Indiana, and they have a pretty good start.  They took the stage at the Electric Brew in Goshen, IN this past Saturday for a quick late night performance that began at 10 pm and ended around midnight.  It was my first visit to the cozy, hipped out, downtown, beer serving, coffee shop.  The comfy couches were all taken in the packed rectangular room.  The Pickers set up stage next to one of the long brick walls in the middle of the room for their performance.

Bluegrass has played a major role within the jam band genre since the emergence of bands like Yonder Mountain String Band, Greensky Bluegrass and even the String Cheese Incident.  These bands helped make bluegrass a household name for live music fans, an opened up the door to another sect of fans for groups like the Goldmine Pickers. 

GmP plays a more traditional form of Bluegrass that filters in a lot of Celtic feels.  The band is comprised of 4 very talented musicians lead by Luke Simpson (guitar, mandolin, banjo,  bouzouki, vocals), Sean Hoffman (fiddle, guitar, vocals), Brian Cook (bass, vocals), and Jay Lapp (mandolin, guitar, baritone guitar, vocals).  Their diversity and creativity is highlighted when they trade off vocals and switch instruments multiple times throughout their performances. 

This evening’s show was being professionally recorded.  I hope that is the reason that the lame crowd sat, motionless and soundless throughout the entire show (minus one dead head that got down for the later part of the show).  The Pickers did not let the bashful crowd stop them from picking away, producing some great feel good bluegrass. 

Their diversity also shines in the songs that they write.  And write they do.  It seemed like every other song was introduced as a new tune, some still nameless.  Sean introduced one of his new songs, “Green Shores Of Africa,” as “long winded.”  It was the high point of the evening for me.  The meaningful lyrics gave me chills as he explained the motivations and desires of Somalian pirates and guerillas to his fans.  Pulling off a song about 21st century Pirates does not seem simple, but they did and it worked out. 

They are capable of going from a song as serious as “Green Shores of Africa” to songs like “Corn Fed Girls” on the drop of a dime.  “Corn Fed Girls” is a song dedicated to the women of northern Indiana and its lyrics are just as amusing as it’s title.  The real treat was the look of embarrassment in each of the band mates eyes as they performed it over crowd snickers and giggles.    

Some of their songs are serious, some are funny and some even relate to the unemployment crisis of their home town.  They all work out splendidly.  GmP is coming at the music world with full force.  They have a unique knack for using a political tone in an entertaining, deep way; something that hasn’t been done successfully in decades.  And they jam the shit out of each song.  These two qualities make them different than any band playing live today, opening up their opportunity to contribute to the music scene in northern Indiana. 

Veiw some pics from that show here: