Entertainment/Ticket

Thursday, Aug. 14, 2008

Just don’t call it bluegrass: Cuesta Ridge plays an eclectic mix

Cuesta Ridge plays an an eclectic mix of twangy acoustic music that can sound like the Doobie Bros. and Grateful Dead as well as jazz, funk and reggae

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It’s no surprise that Toan Chau wasn’t exposed to a lot of bluegrass music as a child.

After all, bluegrass is heavily rooted in the American South, and Chau—who just passed his U. S. citizenship test last week—was born to Vietnamese parents, who were into classical and traditional Vietnamese music. His older brothers listened to the hits of the day, but those songs tended to be by rock bands such as the Eagles, Beatles and Pink Floyd.

Chau, 33, didn’t stumble upon bluegrass until 2002, when he discovered Jerry Garcia’s side project.

“Basically, I got into listening to David Grisman though the Grateful Dead,” he said.

Garcia, the front man for the Dead, was also an accomplished bluegrass player who collaborated with mandolinist Grisman. Their musical efforts, chronicled in the movie “Grateful Dawg,”are responsible for bringing many younger audiences to bluegrass music.

They are also largely responsible for the formation of Chau’s band, Cuesta Ridge, which performs at Boo Boo Records tonight and as part of the Concerts in the Plaza series in San Luis Obispo on Friday. The latter show will likely draw an audience of about 3,000 people.

Like Chau, the members of Cuesta Ridge had never really been into bluegrass until they were well into adulthood.

“I was not a big fan of bluegrass just because I hadn’t really had exposure to it,” said drummer Brent Vander Weide.

In fact, bluegrass wasn’t exactly cool to listen to, said mandolin player Dan Keller.

“Growing up, country was kind of the thing to stay away from,” he said.

But they all liked the Grateful Dead, which became their gateway to bluegrass. And while bluegrass acts aren’t cluttering the sales charts, Cuesta Ridge has found a nice niche in the area, playing choice gigs like the Concerts in the Plaza, the California Mid-State Fair, Downtown Brewing Co. and the Live Oak Music Festival.

Despite the fact that the band originates from California— not exactly a bluegrass state — band members have done their homework, poring over albums by bluegrass veterans such as Tony Rice, Del McCoury, Doc Watson and Grisman. As a result, they actually impress people who grew up with bluegrass.

“People will come up to us and say, ‘Ah, it reminds me of home,’ ” Vander Weide said.

Keeping with bluegrass tradition, the band has a penchant for improvisation, unleashing solos off-the-cuff.

“Every show is going to be different,” Keller said.

While ostensibly a bluegrass band, members of Cuesta Ridge are quick to note that it’s not a traditional bluegrass act. First of all, the band features a drummer, which is atypical of bluegrass. Secondly, their music doesn’t always sound like bluegrass.

“We dabble in bluegrass,” said guitarist Pat Pearson.

Their down-home music, filled with stories of moonshine, guns and jailhouses, features lots of acoustic fingerpicking, with four-part vocal harmonies and up-tempo, snare-heavy rhythms. Though they do have a clear bluegrass influence, at times they might sound like the Doobie Brothers, other times the Grateful Dead. They can also dip into jazz, funk or reggae, which reflects their other musical projects.

Several members of the band are involved with other

groups. Bass player Matt Reeder and Chau are in two other bands together (the Tipsy Gypsies and Funk in Public).

Meanwhile, Pearson and his wife, Dana, are part of a duo called Pitch & Rhythm, and he’s a member of the popular local reggae band Resination. (Pearson has the distinction of performing in the SLO Concerts in the Plaza with three bands—Cuesta Ridge, Resination and Goza.)

Cuesta Ridge’s music, however, is clearly different from the other bands. Vander Weide recently called their music a couple of things — “progressive bluegrass” and “new-grass” — before settling on a final name.

“I call it ‘Caligrass’ more than bluegrass,” he said.

The band started with guitarists Pearson and Chau, former roommates who used to partake in acoustic jams on their porch. From there, the two decided to play an open-mike night at Frog & Peach in San Luis Obispo.

Keller, who had briefly played music with Chau at a party, showed up to hear them play.

“As I was walking up the sidewalk, I could hear the music, and it sounded like acoustic Allman Brothers to me,” he said. “And I was like, ‘Oh yeah—I’m all over it.’ ”

Even though he had taken up the mandolin just a few months earlier, Keller began rehearsing with the trio, and soon they became Cuesta Ridge Mountain Boys. (They later shortened the name for various reasons.)

The lineup has changed a bit. But now it has settled on the original three, plus Vander Weide on drums and Reeder, who joined the band earlier this year, on upright bass.

“He’s learned 45 songs with us since the beginning of the year,” Vander weide said.

Lillian Thomasson plays fiddle, but her musical endeavors were recently interrupted by a wedding and an appearance on the TV show “American Gladiators” with her twin sister, Clinessa Burch; she will not perform in this week’s shows.

Finding time to play music is a challenge for all the Cuesta Ridge members, who have careers and families.

Vander Weide, a seventh-grade English teacher, once tried to involve his family more —by strapping his 3-month-old son to his chest for the opening number of a gig. But it resulted in a crying jag that can be heard on the band’s most recent CD, “Mountain Boys Live.”

“We rehearsed it, but it’s a little different when you get up on that stage,” he said.

While the group has had plenty of high-profile gigs, they’ve also played smaller functions, including parties, wedding, and a recent show at an RV park.

“We don’t turn down many gigs,” Vander Weide said.

While there aren’t a lot of bluegrass bands performing locally, the members of Cuesta Ridge play as often as they can, hoping others will find an affection for bluegrass just like they did a few short years ago.

“When I started playing this music, I started listening to this music, and I just started falling in love with bluegrass,” Vander Weide said. “It grows on you.”