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Bluegrass music lovers from up and down the Yampa Valley are in for a treat as 2023 ends.
The Sweet Lillies performed at WinterWonderGrass in March and will perform at the Strings Festival on Saturday. The performance will begin at 7pm and will be Strings’ last performance of 2023.
The Deer Creek Sharp Shooters team competing in the 2024 WinterWonderGrass competition will be special guests of The Sweet Lillies.
The Sweet Lillies and The Deer Creek Sharp Shooters are both known for their unique and energetic take on bluegrass music, and are growing in popularity within the genre.
Sweet Lillies consists of Becca Bisque on viola and percussion; Julie Gussaroff on upright bass, guitar and mandolin; Dustin Rohleder on guitar and Jones Maynard on drums. Gusarov, Bisk and Rollard also provided vocals for the orchestra.
The band was formed by Bisque and Gussaroff after they met at a bluegrass jam session. A few years after they started working together, they brought in Rollard’s talents. Maynard joined the drummer trio a year and a half ago.
As Bisque describes it, the drum skills Maynard brought to the band added a unique “flair” to their bluegrass sound.
“That’s when we really started digging into the sound that we have now,” Bisk explains.
She went on to note that their music is “a fusion of many different genres,” including Americana, rock, folk, hip-hop, jazz, funk and soul.
“It’s been really fun exploring all these different musical tastes as we’ve been getting together,” Bisk said. “We had such a big, full sound and we loved it. The chemistry between the four of us was so strong.”
This chemistry shines through in the incredible collaboration the band uses to co-write and arrange. According to Bisque, every member of the band plays a role in the creation of lyrics and music.
The Sweet Lillies are also unique in that hip-hop has a strong influence on their music. This was due to their individual and collective love for the genre, as well as the fact that the group’s members came from different parts of the country during the rise of hip-hop. So it’s not uncommon for strong hip-hop and rap elements to be incorporated into the bluegrass-based The Sweet Lillies.
“We love blending all these different sounds,” Bisk said. “Now, we’re looking at incorporating more on the electronic side.”
She went on to elaborate that the band will be performing several upcoming shows with DJs to explore the possibility of “putting together sounds that don’t normally exist in people’s heads.”
The group has performed at Steamboat many times before, having previously performed at the Old Town Pub, Schmiggity’s and WinterWonderGrass. This will be their second time performing at the Strings Festival.
The group has four albums, the first of which was released in 2016 and is titled “The Sweet Lillies.” Their second album, A Lighter Hue, was released in 2018. In 2021, their third album Common Ground was released.
Their most recent release, titled Equality, features an incredibly diverse sound and solidifies the band’s dedication to “social justice, self-exploration, and spiritual evolution.”
Regarding the opportunity to play closely against the Deer Creek Outlaws, Bisk noted that there is a deep history of admiration and respect between the two teams. They previously performed together at the Ramble Festival Sunday Gospel Set in Maryland.
“They’re great players and very interesting people,” Biske said. “It was a fun collaboration and it came together very smoothly and easily.”
The Deer Creek Sharpshooters (DCSS) was founded in 2012 in Harford County, Maryland. The band is made up of six friends who came together around bluegrass music and had a keen interest in pushing the limits of acoustic music. Now based in Denver and Steamboat, the band maintains a deep dedication to the art of bluegrass music despite the geographical distance between its members.
Fritz Boniface plays dobro in DCSS, other members include Luke Hinder on mandolin, Harrison Gaeng on banjo ), guitarist Alex Rocha, violinist Kay McKenzie and bassist Dan Putrino.
Boniface said the band “likes to have fun, and we try to express that through our performances and music.” Because of their long history as a group, the artists performed with energy and intensity.
“We all write, we all sing, so it brings a variety of sounds to our music,” Boniface said. He went on to praise the Yonder Mountain String Band, especially Yonder founding member Jeff Austin, as their inspiration and motivation as a group.
The members of DCSS each have a different musical background, ranging from Celtic elements to rock and roll. Boniface said this creates a diverse musical background that allows them to focus their individual talents on creating bluegrass music as a team while incorporating elements from different genres.
“We tried to be different from existing products while introducing a traditional atmosphere,” Boniface said.
DCSS will perform at the 2024 WinterWonderGrass Music Festival in Steamboat Springs. Boniface was enthusiastic about the choice to perform at the festival.
“It feels really special,” he said. “This is something we’ve always wanted to be a part of. We’re very honored to be invited.”
For more information about Saturday’s show, visit StringsMusicFestival.com Or call 970-879-5056 ext. 105. Tickets are $25.
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