“At its heart, our music is an intimate conversation between two instruments,” describes Alisa Rose, a Grammy-nominated violinist. Her conversational partner is Tristan Scroggins, an acclaimed mandolinist and second generation bluegrass virtuoso. Inspired by folk traditions and classical precision, Scroggins & Rose ‘speak’ a fresh stringed dialect on their latest album, Curios (set for release June 26, 2020), crafting a musical soundscape that is both familiar and startlingly complex. Lyrical phrases arch between the soaring sounds of classical violin and the spirited bowing of American fiddle. Rhythms bounce between the chopping drive of bluegrass chords and the muted space of a fingerpicked mandolin.
“I wanted to write music that made other people feel the way that music has inspired me to feel,” Scroggins explains. Rose agrees, saying, “We weren’t trying to combine the two genres. That’s just our voice. That’s just us speaking from the vast influences in our heads. When you let go of the box you think you must fit in, you are free to explore all these different edges of color, textures, and sounds.” Curios’ original compositions capture that exploration, driven by the duos’ technical expertise and disciplined dedication to traditional music.
Watch their new video for album track I Can Find a Way to Fix It below which was filmed at Downtown Presbyterian Church in Nashville, Tennessee by Kaitlyn Raitz.
Alisa Rose:
As a performer and a composer, I strive to create music that connects audiences to the stories and emotions within the music, as well to each other around the shared experience of listening. “I Hope I Can Fix It” was commissioned by cellist Larry Stromberg; it is one of six pieces I composed with wonderful violinist/composer Mazz Swift. Each piece was written in response to interviews conducted in community centers in Wilmington, Delaware. They were later performed in the same locations, using the music as a vehicle for community to gather and connect around. “I Hope I Can Fix It” responds to interviews with two women at St. Stephen’s Food Pantry. In listening to these interviews, I was moved by how impossibly, inescapably hard these women’s lives sounded, but yet how they both seemed to have an inspiring sense of hope and optimism. In this arrangement of the piece for mandolin and violin, the mandolin represents the arduous trudging through their life’s hardships and the violin is the expressive voice of striving, mourning, and hope.
Curios represents Scroggins & Rose’s evolution from playful improvisation to carefully crafted storytelling. As Rose describes, “The goal of our music is to make people really feel a part of it. We’ve loved having them come with us on our creative process, to comment and influence the music as we crafted it. It helped to give a feeling to our music, one that we hope is approachable, yet closely personable.” Curios is an intimate conversation between two musicians and listeners are invited to join; it’s a type of hopeful connection that couldn’t come at a better time.
The digital release of Curios will include “Living Room Edition” bonus tracks. During the era of COVID-19, in which the communal experience of live music is at odds with social distancing measures, Scroggins & Rose want to recreate the cozy intimacy of a house concert. This bonus material features commentary on the stories behind the tunes, which Scroggins & Rose enjoy discussing with their live audiences. While the venues are closed, Scroggins & Rose hope listeners will enjoy the conversation from the comfort of their own homes.
The album can be pre-ordered via Bandcamp: https://scrogginsandrose.bandcamp.com/album/curios
Photo Credit: Lenny Gonzalez