Not Easily Broken

Not Easily Broken is a family bluegrass band from the Hess family. The family lives in Woodinville, WA, a suburb of Seattle. They are beginning their third year of performing music together. The band enjoys playing traditional bluegrass, gospel bluegrass and newgrass music with some folk, country, and Johnny Cash mixed in. Band members are parents, Ben and Sally, and children, Clayton (16 years), Clark (15 years), Camden (13 years), Caleb (11 years), Kelli (8 years), and Katie (3 years). Their enjoyment of each other and music is evident in each song they play together.

Early in her children’s lives, Sally began making music an important part of their education. The three oldest boys began with piano lessons. During piano lessons, it became clear that Clark had a gift for playing by ear. Around that time, the boys became interested in Riders in the Sky, and Clark expressed interest in learning how to fiddle. As their interest in western and oldtime fiddle music grew, their grandma sent them a banjo and mandolin. Clayton left piano and started on banjo. Then the boys discovered bluegrass music.

Not long after that, Camden joined in with a guitar and Caleb began playing the Dobro. The boys excelled at instrumental bluegrass tunes, but then they realized that the group needed some vocals and backup. Their dad, Ben, joined with his guitar and some lead vocals and their mom, Sally, took up playing bass for them. The family is now helping little sisters, Kelli and Katie, learn mandolin and fiddle so that the whole family can enjoy playing and performing music together.

The band has already enjoyed many opportunities to perform for all sorts of different venues, such as nursing homes, prisons, churches, city parks, indoor waterparks, bluegrass festivals and farmers’ markets. The band is adaptable to many different venues and enjoys traveling to new places to share their music. They love meeting people, making them laugh and inspiring their audiences to invest in their own families.