Crowdis Bridge

Cape Breton's Crowdis Bridge are a folk-bluegrass band who have succeeded in riding their cool cadence to recent national radio airplay on CBC Radio 2's Drive...like local culture bearers, however, the band keeps with the qualities that make all traditional music timeless: familiar lyrical themes, a focus on musicianship, and a joyous swing capable of filling dance floors despite the absence of drum samples and amplified bass lines. Crowdis Bridge just released their first full length recording 'The Seasons and The Rhymes' - CBC Radio

SYDNEY — Crowdis Bridge tried to reproduce the feel and sound of their favourite venue when recording their latest album. And it may not be the venue you expect of the bluegrass folk trio featuring multi-instrumentalists Jason Rudderham, Andrew Fedora and Ben Furey.

“We find that our sound really comes across the best actually when we’re in a kitchen somewhere in Cape Breton,” said Fedora. “The level of the acoustics and the harmonies, everything blends really well and we wanted to try and get that across on the album and just have the feel of our music come through. So if somebody listened to the album and then saw us live, they wouldn’t be able to distinguish between it.”

Fans of the Cape Breton band, which has been together for close to four years, will be able to hear for themselves with the release of “The Seasons & The Rhymes” later this week. It’s the trio’s second album and the recording process for the project actually got started after Crowdis Bridge won last year’s Eagle Talent Search and received a recording session at Soundpark Studios in Sydney.

Described as an exploration of universal themes of heartache, happiness and everything in between, Fedora and Furey are the songwriters behind the all-original material on the new album. But it’s a full band effort in putting those lyrics to music and bringing each song to its full potential.

“Ben or I might pen a song but when the band actually gets together, we certainly arrange the songs as a band and Jason Rudderham has a lot of input on that as well,” said Fedora.

The result of that collaborative process, according to Fedora, is music that is really accessible to all types of music fans.

“You look at some genres of music and there’s a lot of technical brilliance there but it’s not for everybody. But with the kind of music that we’re making, it’s pretty close to a folk music, which is for the people,” he said. “So when you look at the lyrics and the melodies and the sounds, there’s enough there for the average person who just wants to tap their foot. And for avid music listeners who really appreciate what it takes to craft a good song, there’s certainly a high level of musicianship there as well.”

A big opportunity to showcase that musicianship came last month when Crowdis Bridge made its debut at the Celtic Colours International Festival, performing in several shows alongside artists like Old Man Luedecke, North Carolina’s Sheila Kay Adams and Ireland’s Niamh Ni Charra, and recording a CBC Radio special.

Now focused on their new album, the trio will officially release “The Seasons & The Rhymes” Saturday at 4:30 p.m. at Bearly’s, located at 1269 Barrington St. in Halifax. A Cape Breton release event is in the works for Dec. 2 at the Upstairs club in Sydney.

With another milestone for the group just days away, Fedora said several factors have contributed to their success to date, including taking a very professional approach to running the band, and a willingness and dedication from all three members to put in the extra effort required to keep the band going.

“We’re pretty close friends, so that helps a lot,” he added. “There’s no egos or attitudes and we’re also very big fans of playing and making music.”

ljgrant@cbpost.com
- Cape Breton Post

Published on August 19th, 2010
Staff ~ The Cape Breton Post


SYDNEY — Crowdis Bridge came out on top of the Eagle Talent Search contest.

The bluegrass band from Sydney was crowned winner at the final event of the talent search held Aug. 14 at Daniel’s in Sydney. As a result, Crowdis Bridge — featuring Jason Rudderham, Andrew Fedora, and Ben Furey — receive a recording session with Jamie Foulds at Soundpark Studios.

“This is what we need to take our music to the next level. Working in studio with Jamie Foulds is like a dream come true,” said Rudderham.

Meanwhile, fellow contestant Gary Williams of Port Hawksbury took home the mentoring session with internationally acclaimed singer-songwriter Aselin Debison.

“The only way we could come to a decision was to make sure both acts got prizes,” explained Jonathon Ettinger, one of the four judges. “Crowdis Bridge seems more ready for studio but Gary’s got this amazing ability to tell stories with his songs and we want to see him develop this and come back and compete in next year’s competition.”

“I can hear Allan Jackson singing his (William’s) songs,” added Aaron Lewis, another judge of the contest. “And Crowdis Bridge are incredibly tight, it’s like they breathe bluegrass.”

Nancy MacDougall of Port Hawksbury and Ronald Barron of Sydney also competed in the contest, doing original pieces as well as covers.

Jay Bedford, program director of 103.5 The Eagle, says he never expected the high quality of talent.

“Recording a song is one thing,” explains Bedford, “But then taking it and performing it live is a completely different story. We’ve definitely set the bar high for next year.”
- Cape Breton Post

SYDNEY — An impromptu New Year’s performance proved to be a new start for three local musicians who have merged their divergent musical backgrounds to create a fresh new sound.
Crowdis Bridge — featuring friends Andrew Fedora, of East Bay, Jason Rudderham, of Point Edward, and Ben Furey, of Coxheath — has been playing together throughout 2008.
“It was kind of a funny meeting,” recalled Furey. “I was in Scotland and came home on Boxing Day and ended up going to a New Year’s party with Andrew and Jason at the ski hill out in Ben Eoin and we ended up being the entertainment for the night. There was a P.A. set up and stuff and we just got up on stage and we never really left so that was our first show.”
A little over a year later and the three are already preparing to celebrate the release of their debut seven-track EP recording, Saturday from 10 p.m. to 2 a.m. at Bunker’s in Sydney.
“Once we started playing shows we enjoyed it a lot and thought it would be a good idea to make a CD and get our name out there,” said Furey. “We recorded in July at Jason’s house and our friend, Chris Jones, who is an audio engineer, he came over and did all the work for us.”
The CD features all original material and Furey said their approach to the project was pretty simple.
“We just tried to capture our sound as best as we could,” he said, describing it this way, “(It) most closely resembles bluegrass folk. I sometimes call is country blues but it’s not so much blues as it is folk and bluegrass. It’s within the country realm but it’s got an edge.”
All experienced musicians, singers and songwriters — Rudderham has toured with rock band Bemus Tun and Celt-rockers Mackeel; Furey played with the Antigonish-based alternative-country group Red Barn for a couple of years; and Fedora has performed his old country, fingerstyle guitar style in solo shows across the province — the three clicked right away despite wide-ranging musical influences, from jazz and rock, to pop, metal, and Celtic.
Each a multi-instrumentalist in their own right, the three together incorporate guitar, bass, banjo, mandolin and the harmonica into the band’s sound. The CD also showcases the strengths of both their individual and collaborative writing abilities.
“I usually write by myself and Andrew usually writes by himself but we’ve collaborated on a few different songs. The instrumental on the album, ‘One Good Day’ is a collaborative one. It’s kinda self-explanatory,” he said, noting it was created after a fun day spent with friends. “We just picked a key and went and it just sorta came out.”
Youngest Daughters, a folk duo from the Halifax area, will open for Crowdis Bridge. There is a $6 cover charge for the show, or $12 for admission plus a copy of the new CD.
Bunker’s is located at 233 Esplanade in Sydney (above Governor’s Pub and Eatery).

ljgrant@cbpost.com - Cape Breton Post ( Laura Jean Grant)

Formed in January 2008 as the happy result of an impromptu holiday jam session, Crowdis Bridge are a three piece bluegrass band who have succeeded in riding their cool cadence to recent national radio airplay on CBC Radio 2’s Drive and an upcoming showcase on the Discovery Stage during the 2010 East Coast Music Awards and Conference weekend.

Members Andrew Fedora, Jason Rudderham and Ben Furey describe the band’s style as “Bluegrass influenced folk” that combines the technical aspects inherent in bluegrass (flat-picking, multi instrumental solos, and vocal harmonies) with the lyrical clarity and quality found in timeless folk music.

The band’s formative influences run the gamut from metal to jazz, celtic, funk and electronica. Rudderham is an experienced bassist who co-founded funk rock band Bemus Tun, rising to regional popularity in the late ‘90s before touring the United States with New Glasgow-based Celtic-rock act MacKeel. Furey grew up collecting indie rock records and finished studying jazz at St. FX before spending time performing with alt-county group Red Barn and bluegrass influenced Dark Mountain. Fedora followed an enthusiasm for the blues to a fascination with various acoustic guitar finger-picking styles.

Oddly for a group of young traditional Cape Breton musicians, of the five stringed instruments considered to be part of the traditional bluegrass set-up—mandolin, fiddle, guitar, banjo and upright bass—Crowdis Bridge is missing only the fiddle. Like local culture bearers, however, the trio keeps with the qualities that make all trad music timeless: familiar lyrical themes, a focus on musicianship, and a joyous swing capable of filling dance floors despite the absence of drum samples and amplified bass lines.

Throughout the band’s debut album, the banjo and finger-picked guitar do-si-do around the mandolin while the double bass stands firmly in the corner calling the changes and ensuring that the pulse keeps the instrumental and vocal melodies in motion. Furey’s vocals are gentle, but solid, while Fedora takes on a more manufactured “Old Timer” voice that is well suited to the material that features him as lead. All three members deliver steady harmonies that temper and flesh out the percussive bluegrass sound.

The lyrical themes of the album are consistent with the folk tradition. Trails and cabins are mentioned specifically while frequent references to simple images from the natural world—trees, flowers, waves and shores—are used to beautiful effect. (Indeed, Fedora is a full time forestry professional.)

Left to my memories the afternoon showers,
that rested on flowers in the summertime there

The changing of seasons is mentioned to mark the passing of time between romantic encounters or given anthropomorphic characteristics to describe the ebb and flow of a long-term relationship:

There’s a cold breeze that rips the leaves from the trees,
still the autumn’s hard to please though the summer’s on its knees,
but then the warm spring air will make the winter’s heart to care,
for he knows that he’d despair if he couldn’t feel her there.

The songs’ protagonists use sunshine as a metaphor for good fortune and are invariably lamenting a dearth of it or expressing their gratitude for its presence. Themes of lost love are prevalent with many mentions of broken hearts, separation and isolation. The lyricists speak as though they are much older than their average 31 years, describing faded photographs and hearts in need of rest. Eternal wanderers, they are often on the move contemplating trips to Mexico or “riding that slow train.”

Not all is melancholy at Crowdis Bridge, however. “I Dare You (to make less sense)” is a lighthearted poke at the ups and downs of coping with a fickle lover while “Choosey Beggar” is a sharp parody of old time blues:

I got a twenty dollar banjo
The strings are made of twine
I got a leopard skin tuxedo
But I ain’t got no tie
And my shoes are made of leather
But they’re too small for my size

Ultimately, the lyrics relate the tales of people who value contentment and piece of mind over romance or adventure:

As I pack my bag to go, I remember something I’ve always known
The life that I have, it ain’t so bad

Catch Crowdis Bridge at Governor’s Pub on January 30th, and during ECMA weekend March 4th at Smooth Hermans and March 7th at the Capri Club and support young people who have finely honed a traditional craft to such an appealing edge, despite the lack of fortune and fame promised to rural dance bands in the twenty first century. - what's goin on

Though Crowdis Bridge is relatively new on the scene, it is evident from the first few notes, be it live or on their debut CD (self titled); Ben Furey, Jason Rudderham and Andrew Fedora are no strangers to the multiple instruments they each play.

Listening to vocal harmonies on songs like “Long Long Gone” or absorbing the introspective lyrics of “1001 Ways” it is evident these guys are as comfortable writing and singing as they are playing.

All three from Cape Breton, Ben, Jason and Andrew’s paths have crossed several times over the years but it wasn’t until a fateful New Years Eve party that everything started to come together.

Full article found at: http://musiceast.weebly.com - Music East Magazine (September 2009)