Round Mountain

Artist Information

Biography

Blending dusty American grit with a worldly amalgam of global influences, Santa Fe-based duo Round Mountain presents a singular take on folk music that is both foreign and familiar. The multi-multi-instrumentalist band of brothers has travelled the globe absorbing bits and pieces of musical cultures, returning to filter them through their own sepia-toned Americana framework.

Char and Robby Rothschild have been writing songs and singing together since they were kids harmonizing in the back of the family car. They live in Santa Fe, New Mexico, where they grew up, now with families of their own, yet their musical horizons are as broad as the world. They weave elements of world music into their original songs, providing both the comfort of the familiar with the excitement of the new. They themselves are family men as well as travelers, whose performances bridge folk and world genres. They play their original songs on a multitude of instruments from around the world, often playing several of those instruments at once. Their lyrics evoke the emotion of family, giving listeners a path to access the universal and rugged beauty conveyed by global traditional music.

From the rock music of their first band, Lizard House, in 1990, the brothers developed a passion for Irish music, then adding West African, Appalachian, Afro Beat, Zimbabwean, Turkish, Roma, and Balkan to their repertoire of study and performance. But the authenticity they sought could only come if the music was truly theirs, and these songs began to emerge in 2000, the first of which were released in 2004 on their debut album, Round Mountain. Their second album, Truth and Darkness (released in 2007) and their third album, Windward (October 2009), were released to sold out audiences in Santa Fe, each receiving consecutively more national airplay and press.

Round Mountain connects with listeners in many settings, from festival crowds to performing arts venues. They have opened for such folk icons as Toumani Diabate and Bela Fleck, the Mammals, Sonya Kitchell, as well as opening for and accompanying traditional Irish music’s great innovator Andy Irvine. They’ve also performed with Toubab Krewe, Boulder Acoustic Society, VOCO, and Taarka. They’ve contributed music to the films Solace: Wisdom of the Dying (2008) and Ride the Divide (2010). Given their incorporation of the traditional into their unique music, Round Mountain appeals to a fan base wide in age and background. They have been developing a following in Colorado since 2005, on the West Coast since 2007, and the Northeast since 2009. They are also teachers, Robby having taught percussion and musicianship classes at the College of Santa Fe, and Char being a certified teacher of elementary school music since 2000.

Elder brother Char Rothschild studied music since age 8, eventually finding his own voice as he traveled from Egypt to Ireland in 1996, and to Tokyo in 1997, playing for the Old Moscow Circus. On stage, Char sings and plays accordion, guitar or dobro, together with trumpet or Bulgarian gaida, and also highland bagpipes. He has studied trumpet with Paul Yutaka Tobe of the Japan Philharmonic, and Zahir Ramadanov of Ansambl Teodosievski.

Younger brother Robby Rothschild has studied many forms of music, with teachers around the world. He has performed with Thomas Mapfumo, Guinean griot Prince Diabate, and Ottmar Liebert, and has a Masters Degree in Composition from the University of New Mexico. Onstage, he sings and plays percussion- the West African djembe and Peruvian cajon. He also plays the West African harp known as the kora, and the Irish bouzouki.

Round Mountain is named after a mountain peak at the apex of the Pecos Valley, on whose grassy slopes the brothers played as children. The mountain is a gentle place of rest at the threshold of the high country of the Truchas peaks. Round Mountain, the group, is a lively mixture of ceremony and irreverence, of exuberance and reflection. In a time when most music has become so brightly polished that no one can see inside, Round Mountain is a rare authentic gem of music that glows from within.

Instrumentation

Char Rothschild - vocals, trumpet & accordion (simultaneously!), guitar, dobro, gaida (Bulgarian bagpipe), and more!
Robby Rothschild - vocals, cajon, kora (W. African harp) bouzouki, djembe.

Discography

Windward - our third album, released October, 2009 on Red Shield Music.

Truth and Darkness - our second album, released on Fast Horse Recordings, July 2007.

Round Mountain - self titled debut CD incorporating elements and influences from past projects.

Our third album, Windward, will be released Oct. 20, 2009. We are currently on tour to promote it.

Some highlights from other projects:

Ottmar Liebert - Scent of Light (SSRI, 2008), Winter Rose (SSRI, 2005)
Kip Winger: From the Moon to the Sun (2008, Domo) This Conversation Feels like a Dream (1997, Domo Records), Down Incognito (1999, Domo)
Latif Bolat - Gul/the Rose (2004: trad. Turkish saz master)
Panjea (afro funk) - Live in Oz (2000, ind.), Knowledge Devoid of Wisdom (1998, ind.)
Jaka - self titled debut (1998, ind.)
Marimba ava Murewa (1997, Human Songs.)

Links

• Facebook
• MySpace
• ReverbNation

Audio

• Don't Lie Down - first song on Windward, our new CD
  Listen  
• Maitreya
  Listen  

Lyrics

• Burn it Down
• Candle in the Tree
• The Old Tree
• Truth and Darkness
• Maitreya
• Don't Lie Down

Video

Don't Lie Down - SILCO Theater, Silver City, NM

Photo Gallery

Press

• Round Mountain towers at Cerritos [+ Show ]
  

  The word unique has well-defined limits. Unique means exactly that and on a Wednesday evening at the...The word unique has well-defined limits. Unique means exactly that and on a Wednesday evening at the always sweet Sierra Nights concert the locals were able to experience musical uniqueness in its closest definition with the amazing Round Mountain. The series is the brainchild of the tasteful Michael Wolf and you would have to search the purple mountains majesty and all the fruited plains to find a group to equal the truly unparalleled brothers-Rothschild who comprise this duo. Both seem to be born musicians whose broad experience has exposed them to a wide variety of musical traditions and instruments. To find on one stage twelve exotic instruments would be astounding but when several are played at once while vocals are being harmonized is just another league of musical ability. Then there are the instruments that include Scottish bagpipes, Bulgarian gaida, a trumpet, acoustic guitar, dobro, accordion, Turkish saz and ney (lutes), flamenco box drum, djembe, bouzouki, mandolin and of course the West African harp, the kora. Brother Char blows a mean horn with one hand while playing the accordion with the other and brother Robby plays sometimes three drums while strumming the harp and telling stories. Mind you, it is not just that they play these instruments but they do it exceedingly well and change on the fly as they go and very often play two or three at once while singing rather complex and emotional lyrics to the songs they have written.
  
  Ah yes, the songs and the singing are special too. Not always right exactly on key or perfect pitch but beautiful and deep in the telling. Yet only off key in the way Lucinda Williams sings the blues or Joanna Newsome croons her lovely stuff. In moments Round Mountain can sound very Simon and Garfunkel and I mean that in the highest sort of compliment but at others they can get way over into Tom Waits territory. The show is all over the place in genre with bluesy romps like the Mississippi Fred McDowell “Keep Your Lamps Trimmed and Burning” to the Cuban deliciousness of “Tula” to a caffeinated paean to coffee to a blasting bagpipe melody that filled the hall with Hibernian happiness. Still the best of the memorable night were the heartfelt and unashamedly sentimental songs Round Mountain has written for their wives and children or the sadness of parting from the hearts that love them. “Burn It Down,” “Candle in the Willow Tree” and “I Won’t Lose Sight of You” were more poetry than some of the verses on the page when sung in a tight harmony by these young men.
  
  Having the good fortune to sit next the lad’s parents I understand something of the education the kids received since Mom knew every nuance and could sing like a delta blues mama. The folks lead the cheers but the rest of the full house needed little encouragement for the two talented brothers from Santa Fe New Mexico.
  - Glen Creason

• NERFA Episode 4: The New Hope [+ Show ]
  

  If you forced me to name just one act I discovered at NERFA it would be Round Mountain. Before the c...If you forced me to name just one act I discovered at NERFA it would be Round Mountain. Before the conference I said there were acts that I knew I had to see and others that I didn't know that I had to see. Round Mountain was one I didn't know. I met Robby in the lobby when he bumped into me in the lobby with his kora. That was enough to intrigue me and after talking to him I made a point of seeing their showcase on Friday. It was arranged late and wasn't even in the program. I might have seen them anyway because John Platt had them on his list to see. He had heard one minute of one of their songs on the On the Griddle workshop and was impressed. Everyone who saw them perform was impressed. They got the most enthusiastic guerilla showcase audience reaction I heard. They are two brothers, Robby and Char Rothschild from from Sante Fe New Mexico. I didn't know it till I got home but Robby is friends with my friend Joy from Sante Fe. Char is the one that plays the trumpet with his right and the accordion with his left.
  
  Everyone in that room became a fan of theirs. I told them that if they are at Falcon Ridge and they don't play The Budgiedome I'm beating them up.

• WFUV Blog posting [+ Show ]
  

  My personal favorite new discovery (is) Round Mountain from New Mexico – two brothers who manage to ...My personal favorite new discovery (is) Round Mountain from New Mexico – two brothers who manage to simultaneously play guitar (or accordion) with trumpet and kora (or balalaika) while banging on the cajón.
  

• Round Mountain uses unusual instruments for its original songs [+ Show ]
  

  We all need someone to lean on, and Char Rothschild leans on his accordion when he's playing his tru...We all need someone to lean on, and Char Rothschild leans on his accordion when he's playing his trumpet.
  "It's really a smart idea to use two hands to play the trumpet, because there's a lot of stability you get from the other hand," Rothschild said in a recent phone interview.
  But he won't do that Wednesday night, because he'll be playing the trumpet at the same time as the accordion in concert at the Cerritos Center for the Performing Arts. He'll also play assorted other instruments and sing, as will his brother, Robby.
  The siblings form the duo Round Mountain, and while many groups are called eclectic, Round Mountain could be used as a definition of the word. The accordion and trumpet are two of the more mainstream instruments they play. Others include dobro, Bulgarian gaida, Scottish bagpipes, West African kora and djembe, Peruvian cajon and Irish bouzouki.
  The instruments are used to create sounds and rhythms of traditional music from world cultures, but the songs aren't traditional. They're originals written by the two brothers from Santa Fe, N.M.
  Stabilizing the trumpet helps the lips, said Char Rothschild.
  "Your lips are a very rowdy little bunch of muscles, and they really have to hone in on that mouthpiece to get the right overtones to come out when you're buzzing," he said. "The other hand allows you to get that kind of communication with the horn. But I've found that by resting a little bit on the accordion - because one half of it moves and the other half is fixed against your body - I'm able to get enough support to achieve that same sense of communication with the trumpet.
  "Also, I don't burn out the muscles on my arms," he said. "We usually have a pretty lively ending, and if I'm doing trumpet and accordion at the end of the show, sometimes I'm a little wiped out. It has a little bit of a circus element to it that I both really enjoy and also get challenged by physically."
  Playing the trumpet and accordion at the same time is easier than what Char Rothschild used to do in previous bands: playing simultaneous trumpet and keyboards, first for an Afro-pop band called Panjea.
  "The singer had this way where he would just get an idea for a melodic line and start singing it in the middle of a song," he said, "and you were supposed to kind of pick it up. I would try playing them on a bunch of different options on my keyboard or on a guitar, and it just didn't have the right sound, but then when I learned them on a trumpet, it had the right sound, but it sounded naked by itself, so I put the trumpet and the keyboard together and harmonized the lines, and it sounded great."
  The way things sound is important to the brothers. Their parents are "East Coast folkies" who decided to get on a motorcycle and head west. Growing up in Santa Fe, the boys were introduced to a wide variety of music, and when they were old enough they began traveling and getting excited about traditional music in areas as diverse as Turkey, West Africa and Ireland.
  They began playing the music that appealed to them and learning folk instruments.
  "My strongest instrument is percussion, my first instrument, and Char's is the trumpet," said Robby Rothschild. "We've fleshed those two things out with the other instruments because we love their colors, and they've been helpful for us in our songs.
  "With certain of the instruments, we can bring the attitude of, OK, I've been playing this for 25 years. But for the others, there's a different feeling that's more native to folk music - OK, well anybody can play music. It's nice to remember that music has accompanied humans through all different manner of models. It hasn't been performance hall type stuff for very long, and it probably won't be for that long. It'll probably be something else we can't imagine."
  Such philosophical viewpoints are an integral part of the Round Mountain brothers' musical approach, although, at least up to now, it may not be obvious.
  When Robby Rothschild says things such as, "Our way of loving the world is making this music," you might guess that their songs are simple and maybe even saccharine. But not only is the music robust and often full of driving rhythms, the lyrics are obscure enough that it's hard to know what they are saying. It's an artifice Robby Rothschild is aware of.
  "It's something that comes out a lot of times when you're trying to not be overly self-conscious about what you do," he said. "But if you come to the concert at Cerritos, I think you'll hear different songs. The last gig we did, we played a bunch of new songs that aren't on our record ("Windward," released in October 2009). My wife hadn't heard any of them. And she said, `Wow! Your words are different. It's like you're committing more to what you're actually saying."'
  Robby Rothschild's explanation begins in a typically obscure metaphor.
  "I feel what our words are about comes into focus sort of the way the moon might come into focus as the waves settle down in a tide pool. You start to see the shape of it a little bit more," he said.
  "What it basically is - I'm winding up to tell you - is something about the love that we've received from our parents and now from our children and from the experience of getting to bring them here and wanting to pass it along. And what the words have begun to focus on is just that gratitude of being here and being brothers and getting to do it."
  Al Rudis
  

• Windward Review [+ Show ]
  

  Windward, the latest brainchild of Round Mountain—Santa Fe’s talented brothers Char and Robby Rothsc...Windward, the latest brainchild of Round Mountain—Santa Fe’s talented brothers Char and Robby Rothschild—is the duo’s third album, and this playful yet reflective recording marks an important transition. A year ago, they left the comforts of day jobs and families and headed windward, so to speak, to promote this CD around the country.
  
  The brothers’ beautiful harmonies and poetic lyrics have often earned them comparisons with Simon and Garfunkel. But their hypnotic performances on an eclectic assortment of instruments produce what might be best called world-roots music—a sound exotic yet universally familiar. Their songs contain riffs and syncopations that run the gamut of Appalachian, Balkan, Turkish, and Scottish melodies. Both write songs, and each brings exceptional musicianship to the mix. As on their previous albums, they’re joined by double-bassist Jon Gagan, who also skillfully recorded the sessions as engineer and co-producer. (Gagan primarily performs with international guitar sensation Ottmar Liebert.) “Knowing we were going out on the road, we aimed for a sound that’s closer to our live performances,” says Char, the elder brother.
  
  The Rothschilds have studied classical and ethnic music forms. “We honor and acknowledge all of the various musical influences that have come into our lives,” says Char, who dazzles audiences with his ability to literally juggle musical instruments, often playing trumpet or bagpipes with one hand and accordion with the other. He adds those instruments’ rich musical textures to Windward, as well as banjo, dobro, guitar, and saz (Turkish lute).
  
  Although Robby plays bouzouki, he mainly provides the rhythm, on calabash, djembe, tupon, and many other percussion instruments, including the cajón (box), a Spanish percussion instrument on which he sits, playing barehanded. He often adds his sweet, high voice and the angelic, harp-like sounds of the kora, a West African stringed instrument, as in “Bear and Be Born.”
  
  All of the songs are memorable, but several stand out: “Don’t Lie Down,” with its lively drumming and highland bagpipes, beckons the listener to persevere in life; “La Acequia” blends English and Spanish lyrics and flows as easily as the subject named in its title; “Goodnight Animals” is a gentle lullaby to one’s animal nature; and “Let Somebody Know You” is a poignant dialogue between a youth and an adult.
  

• Round Mountain's Windward, NM Grown [+ Show ]
  

  "In the heart of New Mexico's Pecos Wilderness, Round Mountain rises to a height of 10,700 feet, off..."In the heart of New Mexico's Pecos Wilderness, Round Mountain rises to a height of 10,700 feet, offering panoramic views of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains and the fertile Pecos valley. Brothers Char and Robby Rothschild share fond memories of visiting Round Mountain as children, so when they formed a musical duo later in life, they named themselves after that noble peak. Since then, they've been cutting new trails with their distinctive style of world-folk music.
  
  I recently attended the release of Round Mountain's third album, Windward, at the Scottish Rite Temple in Santa Fe. Built in 1911, the pink-stucco temple towers over downtown, an appropriate venue for the brothers Rothschild, evocative of the ancient elements from the North Sea that inform their sound. While I'd driven by the Scottish Rite for years, I didn't appreciate the enormity of the building until that evening. Walking up the steps, I was reminded of a song from Round Mountain's previous CD Truth and Darkness:
  
  Each blade of grass in this town I've seen
  This castle standing tall, I've never noticed at all
  
  With Windward, Round Mountain delivers more of the genre-defying, trans-national creativity that has earned them a wide following in northern New Mexico and throughout the United States. Both brothers are well studied in traditional folk music from such diverse regions as Ireland, Turkey, West Africa, and the United States, and their original compositions present an inventive melding of these styles. While their songs might seem eccentric, full of odd time signatures and cerebral lyrics, they are, nonetheless, surprisingly accessible and infectious. They offer poetic insights on numerous themes, but a concern with family and place is prominent. Take "In Us All," a moving song inspired by Robby's two young children. Accompanied by the plaintive sound of his West African kora, Robby sings:
  
  In a song, in a song inside of song
  In a song inside of a song, in a song in us all
  
  In addition to kora, Char and Robbie play an impressive array of other instruments including accordion, banjo, guitar, bagpipes, saz, trumpet, bouzouki, cajon, and djembe. More impressive still is watching them play several at the same time at their live performances. On "Don't Lie Down," for instance, Robby simultaneously plays bouzouki and foot percussion while Char plays the accordion with one hand and trumpet with the other. Later in the tune, Robby will switch to Djembe and Char to the Scottish Bagpipes. They carry the audience along throughout, heads bobbing and feet tapping, as they range stylistically from the Balkans to North Africa and on to the British Isles within five and a half minutes.
  
  As Char describes it, "we're trying to find ourselves in the world and looking outside at what's there while also bringing something inside of us out. If there's a larger concept that gets into, it has to do with peace."
  
  In a world were much violence is born of cross-cultural ignorance as well as cultural rigidity, Round Mountain sets a healthy precedent for modern cultural reinvention, rooted and reflective yet visionary and fresh. On Windward, leaving behind the old and embracing the new is explored in "Carry the Stone", a reverse-Sisyphus story about carrying a stone to the ocean and letting it go rather than rolling it up an endless hill. The stone symbolizes our inherited burdens:
  Am I really the stone, though I've held that notion
  and how heavy it's grown through our history
  But I'm letting it go back into the ocean,
  and I'm letting it roll back into the sea." - Eric Carlson
  

• Review - Vintage Guitar [+ Show ]
  

  The only way to categorize the music of brothers Robby and Char Rothschild is “all of the above... The only way to categorize the music of brothers Robby and Char Rothschild is “all of the above” – regardless of what’s listed above. The first of the 10 originals that comprise the duo’s third album, “Don’t Lie Down,” starts as a Celtic ballad, with their sibling harmonies floating over bouzouki, accordion, and bowed bass (by Jon Gagan, the only other musician present). Then gears shift to a muted, Madagascar-flavored guitar riff, as the track picks up steam, and zydeco mixes with African percussion. We return to the Celtic ballad before a call-and-response chorus shouts over more polyrhythms and bagpipes mark the finale.
  A lot going on? You bet. A cacophony? No way.
  The Rothschilds mix and mutate styles as easily as easily as they swap instruments – with Char (it may be worth pointing out) sometimes playing accordion and trumpet at the simultaneously. It’s as though all of the styles, players, and instruments that Plsying for Change producer Mark Johnson filmed and recorded to make his “one world” point were absorbed and digested by two brothers in New Mexico.
  Along with instruments that are beaten, blown into, or squeezed, stringed instruments employed include guitar, banjo, dobro, and saz (by Char), and kora and the aforementioned bouzouki (Robby). A song might start in Appalachia, cut through Mali, and end up in Turkey. If such eclecticism were just for show, it wouldn’t resonate. Round Mountain’s patchwork quilts are nearly always more logical than jarring.
  The brothers’ juxtaposing and blending of styles isn’t as seamless as, say, David Lindley’s or Sandy Bull’s, but there’s lots of accomplishment as well as potential here.”
  

• Tales of Home and Abroad from Songwriting Siblings [+ Show ]
  

  the Rothschild brothers of New Mexico, Char and Robby, continue to brew a heady, homemade blend of m...the Rothschild brothers of New Mexico, Char and Robby, continue to brew a heady, homemade blend of musics of the world, with lyrics that are touchingly personal and universally accessible. The brothers share the songwriting and their unaffected, close, fraternal vocal harmonies tell tales about their young families and the challenges of touring. They also share responsibility for the majority of the instruments (though they are complemented by Jon Gagan’s throbbing upright bass), making dramatic use of accordion, highland pipes, trumpet, bouzouki, kora and a panoply of percussion, all skilfully played. Some of their songs are more like mini-suites, with changes in tempo and complex, non-Western time signatures providing an element of surprise. Others, as on their earlier albums, are quieter, introspective ballads, with admirable attention paid to the space between sounds. Shifts from American and West African blues modes into old timey airs or keening Middle Eastern microtones never sound artificial or annoying, and instead they sustain an ethos of magic and mystery. On ‘Let Somebody Know You’, there’s a charming guest appearance by Char’s choral students from Santa Fe’s Turquoise Trail Elementary School. He asks a rhetorical question about his mission in the liner notes — ‘Are we finding ourselves in the world, or is the world finding itself in us?’ It serves, as this whole album does, as a touchstone for any world musician.

• Review - All Music Guide [+ Show ]
  

  The term "roots rock" has been used quite loosely over the years -- as just about every band that ha...The term "roots rock" has been used quite loosely over the years -- as just about every band that has a hint of acoustic guitar in its sound seems to fall under the aforementioned stylistic umbrella. But the duo of brothers Char and Robbie Rothschild -- better known as Round Mountain -- is the real deal when it comes to roots rock, especially as evidenced by the pair's third release overall, 2009's Windward. Despite the band being solely comprised of the two brothers, an extraordinary array of exotic and uncommon instruments is utilized -- Irish whistle, gaida, saz, cajon, bouzouki, kora, etc. But it all fits together nicely (as it sounds more "folk music" than "world music"), with Round Mountain's music sounding consistently mellow and laid-back, as evidenced by such tracks as "Don't Lie Down," "In Us All," and "I'm Gone." For roots rock that is entirely free of such expected influences as Tom Petty, Bob Dylan, and the Rolling Stones (three artists who go hand in hand with the genre), Round Mountain have hit upon a special formula with Windward.
  
  
  8/11/2009

• Review - AndMoreAgain [+ Show ]
  

  Soothing, but not somnabulant, this Santa Fe duo has been around for awhile and shares sonic simil...Soothing, but not somnabulant,
  this Santa Fe duo has been around
  for awhile and shares sonic similarities with higher-profile outfits like Andrew Bird and Devotchka who work gyspy and klezmer in-
  fluences into their alt-pop, so they're not bandwagon jumpers as much as zeitgeist jumpers, to coin a (rather awkward) phrase.
  
  Further, Windward hues closer to the falsetto-fueled folk end of the spectrum. On "I'm Gonna Dig," they come on like Canned Heat without the blues or Will Oldham with some of the rough edges sanded away, while "I'm Gone" brings images of the Incredible String Band to mind—if that twosome had emerged from Scotland rather than Britain (wavery vocals plus highland pipes will do that). Recommended to aficionados of any of the aforementioned.
  
  Kathleen McFennesy
  8/7/2009

• PERFORMANCE REVIEW [+ Show ]
  

  Round Mountain is one of the best bands ever to emerge from New Mexico. Robby & Char's mix of influe...Round Mountain is one of the best bands ever to emerge from New Mexico. Robby & Char's mix of influences from around the globe, combined with a singular energy and originality, really make them world-class. I've twice booked Round Mountain at the Thirsty Ear Festival, and I can say without hesitation that they stand shoulder to shoulder with their internationally touring peers.
  
  Mike Kostur, director
  Thirsty Ear Festival

• Round Mountain themes fit Nature Center [+ Show ]
  

  Robby and Char Rothschild grew up playing music together as siblings. They were raised in Santa Fe, ...Robby and Char Rothschild grew up playing music together as siblings. They were raised in Santa Fe, N.M., but their musical influences weren't limited by what they found in their high desert home.
  
  Both are multi-instrumentalists with ears open to the whole wide world. Their music draws from Appalachia and the Mississippi Delta, but also pulls in tonal influences, instrumentation and rhythm from the Middle East, Africa and beyond.
  
  "New Mexico lore is very rich," said Robby Rothschild. "Even as Anglos, we were steeped in it. There is a Spanish phrase, "la cadenica," that means a place of belonging, a place you want to go to. It can be a particular spot, a meadow, or a place in your heart. We are pleased to be from New Mexico -- not only as a place to go home to, but as a place to bring out to the world."
  
  The two bring their music to Utah for the first time with an Ogden Nature Center show on Thursday.
  
  "It felt providential that we ended up getting a place to play at the nature center our first time there," said Robby Rothschild. "We both love nature and the wilderness and the sort of role that plays in our music."
  
  
  He and Char pointed to the long drives they take throughout the West, and the world, as fuel for their inspiration.
  
  "It's great to take an instrument out, write a song, as we drive a specific highway," said Char Rothschild. "It opens us up as the road opens up."
  
  Wanderers
  
  Classical piano was where the twosome started training.
  
  "Our grandmother went to conservatory and played classical piano," said Char Rothschild. "But neither one of us pursued the classical tradition in its full form, though Robby is studying his masters in composition at UNM (University of New Mexico)."
  
  Both brothers have wandered far and wide in pursuit of their music. Older brother Char has traveled throughout the world, playing with the Old Moscow Circus in Tokyo and touring Australia with an Afro-funk band.
  
  Robby has studied djembe drum in both Mali and the United States, and has also traveled extensively.
  
  Both bring stories as well as songs with them as they travel.
  
  Robby was living in Paris, studying the djembe, when he fell in love with another traditional instrument, a West African harp called the kora.
  
  He then sought a teacher, who lived in a poor part of town, in a house with many people in it. He was not sure if they would accept him.
  
  "But I came in and they were very kind to me," he said. "I asked the teacher there if I could be a student, and he looked at me. 'Why do you want to play the kora?'
  
  "I told him I was following it with my heart. And he breathed in and stared at me, gave me this fierce look. He held my gaze, 30 to 60 seconds -- an endless amount of time -- and then he said, 'OK.' I seemed to pass muster enough to get a lesson. And that is important to us. We are always strangers to such traditions. We want to show our respect for those, because we can never be completely a part of it."
  
  Universal feelings
  
  Char Rothschild remembers a trip to Turkey in 1996, where a street musician summed up his feelings about music as a whole.
  
  "I brought this little backpacking guitar along. I did not end up playing it much, because I got interested in the saz."
  
  The saz is a Turkish lute, played throughout the country.
  
  "I got to talking to this saz player, who summed it up perfectly to me: 'It does not matter what we play. Musicians all over the world are the same -- we are feelings.' "
  
  -Linda East Brady
  
  

• Mixed Media [+ Show ]
  

  Band of brothers They'll be coming round the mountain when they come, and there'll be humming, he...Band of brothers
  
  They'll be coming round the mountain when they come, and there'll be humming, head-nodding, and foot-tapping to boot -- not to mention lots of good hearty dancing. The "they" in question are brothers Char and Robby Rothschild of the beloved Santa Fe roots-music duo Round Mountain, and they bring their particular blend of sweet and sassy to the Oddfellows Hall, 1125 Cerrillos Road, from 7:30 to 10:30 p.m. on Saturday, Jan. 31. Widely known for their original songs based in a variety of folk traditions from Americana to Africana, the pair first give a concert, after which -- joined by percussionist Karina Wilson and keyboard player Della O'Keefe -- they play for contra dancing (led by caller Will McDonald). So put on your dancing shoes and listening hats, and go round yourself up some memories. Admission is $8 at the door; for information, call 820-3535. -- Craig Smith

• Citizen-of-the-world Americana [+ Show ]
  

  (Four-star review) Whatever scepticism I may harbour against global fusion was gently washed away ...(Four-star review)
  Whatever scepticism I may harbour
  against global fusion was gently washed away by repeated listens to this creation by the New Mexico-based brothers Char and Robby Rothschild. The Rothschilds are not, it turns out, trying to reinvent any of the various cultures from which they’ve borrowed a number of instruments and song-forms. Instead, they’re sharing their own very personal aesthetic and their intimate but accessible experiences, having travelled widely and listened carefully. Their original melodies, arrangements and their lyrics in particular demand a similarly high level of listening from us. The rewards are legion. It’s earopening to hear these entrancing tales in English about love and the road and the mystical aspects of Mother Nature, accompanied by percussion from Africa and South America, strings from Mali and Turkey, and reeds from the Balkans, alongside the more familiar guitar, trumpet, and accordion. But this wouldn’t be able to work its wonders were not the Rothschilds such skilled multiinstrumentalists, ably assisted by bass player Jon Gagan.
  The album’s songs take on an unpredictable multitude of forms, from the bluesy opening ‘Hildia’ and the reggae rhythm of ‘Candle in the Willow Tree’ to the John Denver-like folksiness of the title tune. Perhaps the loveliest of the many lovely numbers is also the musically simplest. Char’s ‘I Am Here’ is a welcome to his new daughter, accompanied only by his brother Robby’s kora (West African harp-lute). This is a treasure of sound and sentiment with which you’ll want to share, as well as treat yourself to.
  Jeff Kaliss
  Nov. 2007

• Round Mountain Blows Through Town [+ Show ]
  

  Brothers Char and Robby Rothschild of Round Mountain filled Linnaea's Café last Thursday night-not o...Brothers Char and Robby Rothschild of Round Mountain filled Linnaea's Café last Thursday night-not only a plethora of musical sounds, but a spirit of harmony and oneness with nature.
  
  The small venue provided the perfect backdrop for what was truly a diverse and spectacular display of musical ability, meaningful lyrics, and catchy beats from their newest album, "Truth and Darkness," as well as music from their first album "Round Mountain."
  
  Positioned under the picturesque backdrop of a window looking out to the lush greenery from the garden patio, Round Mountain was poised perfectly to convey its lyrics to the intimate audience looking on.
  
  The Rothschilds have been playing music together for most of their lives, and it is evident when they are on stage. Each movement and sound was perfectly balanced between the brothers, radiating a feeling of complete effortlessness and creating a seamless performance throughout.
  
  The name "Round Mountain" pays homage to a place the brothers explored as children in their hometown of Santa Fe, New Mexico, as well as their belief that mountains are sacred.
  
  To put Round Mountain in one musical category is impossible. The brothers switched instruments constantly and at times would play two at once. Char seemed to have two minds; one for focusing on the trumpet he was expertly playing, and one for the accordion that his fingers moved over with ease.
  
  The sounds could be labeled as Balkan and West African mixed with traditional Appalachian music. The brothers collected many techniques and ideas when traveling the world, and have formed a patchwork quilt of melodies sewn perfectly together. If you ask the brothers how they would describe it, they might have to ponder for a moment.
  
  "We are the worst people to ask about that," Char said with a grin.
  
  "We call it traveling music," Robby offered.
  
  "Because music has always traveled," Char added. "The way that light travels from the stars to the earth, it takes a long time for the light to arrive, and it has taken all of us a long time to arrive here on earth. We like to think that it would be good to hear in the car, because the beauty is in the transitions."
  
  With a strong folk base to all of the songs, it was at times not far off to compare the two to Simon and Garfunkel. That is, if Simon and Garfunkel incorporated international derivations and an Irish bouzouki into their music.
  
  The brothers attribute their love for music to listening to their mother singing, and participating in singing circles with their family and their parents' "folkie" friends.
  
  The opening song of the night was titled "Venus in the Tower," and displayed quickly that this show would not be typical. The opening notes were reminiscent of something that would be in the background of a Spanish bullfight, and quickly transitioned into an uplifting beat pouring from Robby's fast hands on the drum.
  
  With a story to tell about the meaning of each song, the audience quickly connected with the music, nodding in tandem to the band's explanations. Soon the coffee house was brimming with curious onlookers, as those sipping coffee on the patio swayed to the enticing rhythms.
  
  The third song of the night, "Burn it Down," was dedicated to Robby's daughter because he said it was her favorite. It was easy to see why this song could become anyone's favorite as the room seemed to fade away and only the intense and meaningful lyrics and graceful guitar picks remained.
  
  The lyrics paint a unique quality to the music that transforms it into more than a song, but rather a communication and dance with nature. The brothers write the words themselves, and find their inspirations in their surroundings, as well as dreams and mythology, with Char applying pieces that will connect to peoples' circumstances, and Robby focusing more on nature as a means of imagery.
  
  "I tend to write things deriving as much as possible to talk to people with what I'm saying, almost to try to take a conversational tone, but then I like for that to slip into poetry, to go deeper-to evoke an essence," Char said. "Our favorite kinds of musical gigs are when we can all meet, and really communicate to the audience and share something."
  
  "We feel like we and the audience are all sort of assembled around this fire that was the music. That's the best kind of feeling," Robby said. "Everything I write has nature references in it. I seem to feel so much inspiration from where we live in New Mexico, we both have a huge connection to it."
  
  The brothers said they enjoyed playing at Linnaea's because it provided the mellow atmosphere of a coffeehouse, with the attentiveness of a theater.
  
  As the songs continued to pour into the small room, the paintings on the walls seemed more alive than when the place was littered with random chit-chat an hour prior. The music was danceable; delicious. Melody after melody, the vibrancy of the sounds stayed true, never becoming predictable.
  
  Two separate times, Round Mountain requested the participation of the audience with clapping out a beat, and then by singing a chorus. The crowd complied and in a moment everyone in the room was connected.
  
  A long-time fan of the band, Capri Glidden of Los Osos, said that what she loves most is its heart.
  
  "I'm always blown away by their music," she said. "They are probably some of my favorite people, and musicians."
  
  At the end of the band's two-hour set, Char and Robby lingered in the coffee house chatting with fans, and thanking people for attending. They were off to another show in Los Angeles in the morning, the third-to-last stop on their tour.
  
  You can check this band out on myspace.com and prepare to see the world in a different light. Sometimes catchy, sometimes soothing, always enlighteningly beautiful, Round Mountain is proof that you don't have to be mainstream famous to produce a musical tour de force.
  -Chelsea Bieker

• Round Mountain: Truth and Darkness [+ Show ]
  

  By George Graham, Music Director/Host at WVIA-FM, Scranton/Wilkes-Barre/Williamsport, PA. http://...By George Graham, Music Director/Host at WVIA-FM, Scranton/Wilkes-Barre/Williamsport, PA.
  
  http://georgegraham.com/hgminfo.html
  
  (Fast Horse Recordings As broadcast on WVIA-FM 7/18/2007)
  
  For the avid, open-minded fan, music has a seemingly endless ability to surprise even those of us lucky listen to a lot of different styles. It does not happen very often, given the herd-like nature of the popular music business, and its tendency to ape trends, but sometimes some music will come out of left field that is both really interesting and quite easily enjoyable. Those two qualities do not often happen at the same time. And it's especially exciting when the music is outwardly very simple and spare sounding. This week, we have a new CD of such music by a band called Round Mountain, whose new release is called Truth and Darkness.
  
  Lately, there has been what I find an intriguing trend of young performers rediscovering old folk songs and serving them up with acoustic folk instrumentation, though often in unconventional combinations, such as the bands Crooked Still, the Duhks and Ollabelle. Round Mountain is a trio from Santa Fe, New Mexico, two of whom are brothers. The use a motley collection of instruments running from banjo to Bulgarian bagpipes, to Malian kora, to Irish pennywhistle to Turkish saz to trumpet and accordion, to Latin American percussion. But the fact that they record more or less live, means that there are not too many instruments at a time -- more about that later -- and they keep the sound simple to the point of starkness. But they manage to combine as many musical influences as their collection of instruments would suggest. And instead of doing traditional songs, like other such eclectic acoustic groups have been doing, Round Mountain do original music of considerable sophistication, despite the outwardly barebones sound.
  
  Round Mountain is Char Rothschild, the older of the brothers and the incurable multi-instrumentalist, playing most of the aforementioned exotic instruments, as well as sharing vocal and songwriting duties with his brother Robby. Char also tends to play more than one instrument at once -- such as trumpet and accordion. Robby plays mainly percussion but also instruments like the African kora, bouzouki and mandolin. Both have academic musical backgrounds, Char with a BFA in Contemporary Music from the College of Santa Fe, and Robby at the New England Conservatory of Music, the College of Santa Fe, and University of New Mexico, where is working on his Masters' in Composition. He also traveled to Africa to study percussion there. Rounding out the trio is bassist John Gagan. Robby Rothschild and Gagan played together previously in Nuevo Flamenco guitarist Ottmar Leibert's band. Of course, the two Rothschild brothers have been musical collaborators all their lives.
  
  One is quickly taken by Round Mountain's music, the seemingly traditional sound that sneaks into a breathtaking array of influences, while at times being as simple as voice and kora -- the African harp guitar of Mali. At other times, the music can swirl into a kind of Eastern European or Middle Eastern conglomeration that can evoke a kind of laid-back klezmer music, or even a polka.
  
  The lyrics tend to be introspective -- there is only one real love song and it's pretty understated -- and there are essentially a couple of lullabies, and some poetic reflections on life and family. The group's surroundings in the desert Southwest also form the backdrop for some of the songs. And both brothers write about the arrival of their respective children.
  
  Opening is a track called Hildia, who is reputed to be a mythical woman in charge of the weather. The song hints at old-time Appalachian music. <<>> But soon, there are dollops of the Eastern European influence that the group frequently draws on. <<>>
  
  A song inspired by the band's New Mexico surroundings is The Old Tree. It also hints at old-timey music, but they also add the Bulgarian bagpipe called the "gaida." <<>>
  
  The group gets more wildly eclectic on Venus and the Tower, which was written by Char Rothschild about upon the arrival of his daughter, and inspired by his carrying her around to calm her. The group's Eastern European influences come to the fore. <<>>
  
  Round Mountain can be at their most striking on their outwardly simple tracks. Burn It Down, about the arrival of the chill of winter, features mainly the African kora with the bass and light percussion, and Robbie's plaintive vocals. The result is quite haunting. <<>>
  
  Another remarkably eclectic piece is Candle in the Willow Tree, a kind of philosophical song celebrating the here and now. It comes out as a kind of Middle Eastern reggae blues. <<>>
  
  The title track, Truth and Darkness is the album's love song, and it's appropriately upbeat, with the Round Mountain's trademark collection of very disparate influences, in this case, some Sixties folk and hints of African. <<>>
  
  Also arresting in its sound I Am Here, written as a lullaby. It's just Char on the vocals and Robby on the kora. <<>>
  
  For me, probably the most memorable track is Penumbra, also inspired by New Mexico's vistas. Again, the kora plays a major part, and is a foil for Robby's slightly quavery vocals. There is a subtle Latin rhythmic undercurrent at times, while the kora gives the song its plaintive sound. <<>>
  
  Truth and Darkness the new release by the New Mexico trio Round Mountain is a remarkable piece of work. The trio of two brothers and a friend manages to create music that is outwardly simple and even stark, and yet breathtaking in its eclecticism, while at the same time being very appealing. Their odd mixture of exotic musical influences inspired by their gallery of exotic instruments from around the world, is interesting enough -- and there have been lots of groups to do world music fusion. But Round Mountain creates music that is quiet, subtle, delicate, and at the same time very informal sounding, something that really sets them apart and makes this such a fascinating album to listen to, and one whose sound will stay with you long after the CD is over.
  
  Sonically, we'll give the CD an A-minus. The recording and mix are as subtle and spare as the music, with no readily audible studio effects, save for a little overdubbing. But unfortunately, the volume was cranked up some in the mastering process, which does undermine some of the music's finer shades of dynamics.
  
  One would have thought that most of the possibilities of a folky trio with acoustic instrumentation would have been exhausted by now. Round Mountain have certainly exploded that notion, and made some memorable music in the process.
  
  By George Graham

Setlist

Our setlists vary depending on the venue. Typically, original material is interspersed with traditional songs and instrumentals, ranging as widely in dynamic as in geographic scope. The trumpet, bagpipe, and cajon numbers are raucous. The kora numbers are more contemplative and gentle.

Basic Requirements

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