Kaley Lane Eaton’s Plectrum Five
Part new music ensemble, part American roots string band, the conservatory punks of the Plectrum Five combine the improvisatory timbral explorations of their urban experimental pasts with the Rocky Mountain folk twang of their collective family trees (with a touch of Balkan flair, and whatever else might be lingering in our ancestral pasts). When you hear the Plectrum, you might imagine a covered wagon lilting harshly over the rocks and boulders of the Bozeman Trail, the metal utensils clanging like the dobro and the banjo, kids in the back crying like the cello, all in a plodding rhythm that promises you’ll get there soon. You might be reminded of a time in the past when the only music you heard came from living, breathing people playing wooden instruments, who asked you to sing and dance along. This might evoke a deep knowing that survival - or, at least, joy - and collective music-making, are, somehow, intertwined.
The Plectrum Five is fronted by artistic director Kaley Lane Eaton (vocals, banjo, other th(str)ings as needed), with Rian Souleles (Greek bouzouki), Tom Baker (guitar, dobro), Mariah Larsen/Lady Zade (cello), Jon Butler (bass and vocals), and Kayce Guthmiller (viola and vocals). Yes, you counted correctly. There are six people in the core band of the Plectrum Five. And sometimes, there are even more - when we expand beyond this, inviting global traditions to make something greater than the sum of our parts, we become the Ineffable String Band. Limitless and unable to be captured or articulated, we celebrate the ephemeral nature of music, something so fragile and fleeting and yet strong enough to become the connective tissue of humanity.
The name “Plectrum Five” comes from old Butte, Montana (where many of us have tangled roots). Back in the day - oh, the 1910s and 1920s - there was a Butte-based string band called Len’s Plectrum Five, fronted by the Montana Music Store owner Len Waters. There’s a plaque outside the old building on N Main Street (now, where you assemble to get a tour of Butte) talking about Len and his band, but that’s about all we can find other than the suitcase of sheet music from Len’s store, purchased by her great-grandmother in the 1910s.
More info (and a record!!) coming soon!!