Listening to Bruce Molsky is something like walking through a hall of mirrors. The multi-instrumentalist and singer, best known for playing traditional Appalachian music, finds his unique voice - soulful and elegiac - on whatever instrument he picks up. His unadorned yet nuanced banjo, guitar, and fiddle playing indicate a musical wisdom gained through decades of playing, teaching, and immersing himself in the traditions of old-time music.
"I love music that's soulful," he says, and his voice crackles over his cell phone. He is sitting in the airport in San Jose, Calif., with acclaimed fiddler Darol Anger. They've just finished teaching together at Big Sur Fiddle Camp.
Multi-instrumentalist Bruce Molsky opens the 2009 KCT Concerts this Saturday night.
But the key to Mr. Molsky's artistry is not his technical virtuosity. Rather, it's in singularity of his voice. Says Mr. Molsky, "I've been playing music for over 40 years and every time I close my eyes and start a tune, I go somewhere, and when I play in front of an audience I just want them to go there with me. I think that's a reasonable request."
Mr. Molsky's performance this Saturday at the Katharine Cornell Theatre will be his second Vineyard appearance for the KCT Concerts series, which runs through the fall. "It's exactly the kind of show I love to play," says Mr. Molsky. "It's friendly, it's casual, and it's an intimate venue."
Click to listen to a track from last year's performance
Mary Wolverton and Greg Harcourt, the couple responsible for organizing the Celtic and traditional music series since 1996, are thrilled to have Mr. Molsky back. "It was one of our favorite concerts last year," says Ms. Wolverton. "He's a very warm, relaxed, and forthright person. I think he really connects with his audience... It's a very well-rounded performance."
Mr. Molsky's professional music career didn't begin until he was 40 when he quit his job as an engineer. Now 53,he keeps busy traveling the world performing, collaborating, and teaching at workshops.
He just returned from playing a string of concerts in Sweden, and in June, following an East Coast tour with Mr. Anger, he will return to Europe to teach at a workshop in Finland. He's a regular instructor at Mark O'Connor Fiddle Camp and he's been a featured guest on "A Prairie Home Companion" with Garrison Keillor, and NPR's "All Things Considered."
Though he considers himself a performer more than a teacher, Mr. Molsky recognizes the special importance of teaching inherent in his genre. "The kind of music I play is a tradition," he says. "I learned years ago from people who were old then and most of them are gone now, so I kind of feel one of my main charges is passing the music on."
The fiddle is enjoying a new wave of popularity, Mr. Molsky believes, and its tradition is gaining respect among young people in Europe, Canada, and the United States. "I like to be one of the people that helps facilitate that," he says.
Mr. Molsky, who grew up in the Bronx, started playing guitar when he was 10. Later that year, his older sister gave him a Doc Watson record for his birthday - "I was a young folky," he says, chuckling. He picked up the fiddle when he was 17, captivated by the bluegrass and old-time music he heard during the folk movement of the 60s and 70s.
Only recently has Mr. Molsky begun to write his own music, an enlightening step for the musician. "What I'm finding out about writing," he says, "is that there's no such thing as a new idea. The ideas are out there, they're floating in space, and you just have to find a worthwhile interpretation to make your own."
Mr. Molsky's most recent solo album, "Soon Be Time" (Compass Records, 2006) is mainly composed of traditional folk songs and old-time fiddle tunes, with one original song, "On My Street." He seems to prefer the lower range on all the instruments he plays, which allows him to conjure a lush and somber mood. His unembellished vocals mimic the tone of his fiddle - love, loneliness, and the exhaustion that comes from a hard day's work are among the traditional themes.
Opening for Mr. Molsky will be the Vineyard-based bluegrass band, Ballywho, with guitarist and singer Brad Tucker, upright bass player Tauras Biskus, banjo player Matthew Lozier, mandolin player Josh Campbell, and Vincent Padalino on washboard. The five-piece band melds high-energy bluegrass and old-time music with contemporary blues and country.
Mr. Tucker respectfully refers to Mr. Molsky as "a monster," adding, "I'm going to try and talk him into playing 'Sally Ann' with me before his set."
"We all start by imitating," Mr. Molsky says. "But if you do anything long enough, you wake up one morning and your realize that you don't sound like any of those people that you're trying to sound like. You sound like yourself. That's a very liberating place to be in your musical growth."
Bruce Molsky with Ballywho, 7:30 pm, Saturday, April 25, Katharine Cornell Theatre, Vineyard Haven. $17 in advance; $22 at the door; free for children. More info at kctconcerts.com
