How a Philly kid is mastering the art of bluegrass
By Michael Somerby EBS STAFF
BIG SKY – When I first saw Zander Chovanes play guitar, his
nail bed was bleeding, caking the tip of his pointer finger.
Chovanes had just finished the first half of a set with local
mandolinist Ben Macht, a founder and fixture of Big Sky favorite Dammit Lauren
and The Well, when I asked him at the bar how long he’d been playing.
Ten or 11 years—the figure, a mere decade, flies in the face of
the 24-year-old Philly native’s abilities. If anything, his sound, his deft
movements up and down the neck of his guitar, was that of a leather-faced back
room regular.
With Chovanes on lead vocals, the duo had ripped through
bluegrass, folk, blues and jam favorites from artists like Clapton and The Dead
with remarkable fluidity and chemistry, and with a warm sound to boot.
So when I noticed his blood-covered finger wrapped around the
neck of his beer and realized he hadn’t until I pointed it out, I understood
that when Chovanes plays the act transcends the physical.
The next time I saw him play was at the Outlaw Partners
Christmas Stroll party, where his capacity for the acoustic was yet again on
full display, only to see him a few hours later shredding an electric guitar,
from his back, on the sticky wooden floor of the Broken Spoke.
Yep, Chovanes wasn’t a one-and-done. I sat down with the young,
promising artist to learn more about his journey as a musician.
M.S.: What kick started your pursuit of music and
playing guitar?
Z.C.: I didn’t come
from a family where people played instruments, but I had a good friend growing
up that was a really good piano player. When we were 13, he asked his parents
for a drum set for Christmas and I asked my parents for an electric guitar. I
ended up getting this Squier Stratocaster, the cheap Fender line, and an amp.
And then we started a band with a bass player, playing through high school
together.
M.S.: Do you think starting out, immediately, in a
band helped carry that passion?
Z.C.: I can
definitely attribute sticking with it to having someone to play with. The most
important thing about playing music is playing with other people, no matter how
good you are. That’s what music’s about—communicating with other musicians.
M.S.: Describe your style for me.
Z.C.: The older I
get, the more I focus on putting my voice on the way I play guitar. There are
so many great guitar players out there, even in this town, that can play faster
and technically better than you, so it’s all about finding what you do
differently. I think what I’m trying to go for is like a rootsy, broad folk
music sound that includes a bluegrass and Tedeschi Trucks Band kind of sound.
But most people definitely think of me as a flatpicker.
M.S.: Which other artists and influences do you
draw inspiration from?
Z.C.: “The Pizza
Tapes” is one of the main albums that really got me into bluegrass, with Tony
Rice, Jerry Garcia and David Grisman. Definitely the Grateful Dead, too. But,
to be honest, I’m really bad at discovering new music because once I’m
introduced to something I kind of just latch onto it for a long, long time. For
example, I recently went through the YouTube rabbit hole with Jason Isbell, and
now I’ve made a personal connection. Derek Trucks is another big one, he has
such a creative way of playing, and Luther Dickinson is another slide player I
really like. On the bluegrass side, I really like Brian Sutton and obviously
Tony Rice.
M.S.: How has playing in the American West
influenced your style?
Z.C.: When I lived
in South Carolina, I was around a lot more acoustic, folk and bluegrass music
sounds, so I eventually got into flatpicking, the traditional bluegrass style
of playing guitar. When I moved out here that really picked up steam because
everyone plays that style in Montana. It’s exposed me to an incredible living
music scene, with many incredible flatpickers like Kevin Fabozzi and Tom
Murphy.
M.S.: What’s it like playing in Big Sky?
Z.C.: I feel very
fortunate to be able to play here. There are a lot of great musicians, and tons
of opportunity. I like the variety of venues, different avenues of expression—I
can play late night at The Spoke and lay on my back and shred the electric
guitar, or I can be Scissorbills [Saloon]with Hanna [Powell] and do a rocking
set, or me and Ben [Macht] can be at Spanish Peaks and play to that calmer
vibe. And no matter what, even if you’re not playing their favorite style,
there will always be someone dancing.
Chovanes
plays regularly around the Big Sky area with a number of local artists,
including a newly minted bluegrass band, Fringe Bikini, with Chovanes on
guitar, Powell on vocals, Macht on mandolin and Brian Stumpf on standup base.
