Bearfoot consists of Kate Hamre on bass, Mike Mickelson on guitar, Jason Norris on mandolin, Angela Oudean on fiddle, and Odessa Jorgensen on vocals and fiddle. All but Jorgensen have been performing together for some time in the group.

Not long ago, they were Bearfoot Bluegrass, a leading light in Alaska’s small but determined bluegrass music scene. The band served as bluegrass missionaries, hosting music camps for kids in their home state, and performing throughout the Pacific Northwest.

Now, their members are living in Tennessee, California and Colorado as well as Alaska, and they are signed to a major independent label based in Nashville. Their tours take them all over the US where they play to enthusiastic audiences.

You can still hear the schooling they received in bluegrass and old time music on Doors and Windows, but the sound is more modern, with influences from any number of pop and acoustic styles. The band wrote most of the material, which shapes their sound as it does any group who records their own music, and in this case it is Odessa Jorgensen who leaves the biggest stamp on the CD.

Odessa has written 4 out of the 11 songs on the new CD. We had a chance recently to talk with her about the new CD and how she came to be a part of this challenging new band – starting with her musical upbringing.

“I picked up the violin at age four. My family is very musical and I was homeschooled, which gave me the freedom to devote a lot of my time to music. As a kid I was heavily involved in the classical music scene in the Bay Area of California – I was part of a chamber orchestra for several years and played in various quartets. My dad and I (he played guitar) started writing instrumental tunes together when I was about 10 years old. I formed a rootsy Americana/Rock and Roll band when I was 15 with some friends of mine, and it was then that I started branching out and creating original music.

The first time I went to Hardly Strictly Bluegrass in San Fran I was blown away ‚Äì I saw Gillian and Dave, Doc Watson, and Emmylou Harris all for the first time ‚Äì all the greats. I knew then that I wanted to play that sort of music so I finished high school, packed my car, and drove to Nashville. I didn’t know anybody there, but I felt sure that’s where I needed to go for music. I fell in with the most amazing and supportive group of people and I learned so much just being around so many great musicians. I started getting into old time fiddle and writing my own songs on guitar and I played with and learned from anyone who would teach me.

My first IBMA I met Mary Lucey of The Biscuit Burners. We had a great time jamming all night in the stairwell and a few days later she called me up to see if I was interested in being in a band. Just a few months after that I was on the road full time as a member of The Biscuit Burners.”

Jorgensen stayed with The Biscuit Burners until the summer of 2008, which was exactly when an opening had occurred with Bearfoot.

“I first met Bearfoot at RockyGrass right before I moved to Nashville. After I joined The Biscuit Burners, we would see each other at various festival across the states.

Last summer I left The Biscuit Burners about the same time Bearfoot was looking for a new singer/fiddler, and the timing couldn’t have been more perfect. I went a few trial period tours – we connected musically and had a wonderful time together. It just felt right ‚Äì that was 8 months ago.”

The new CD was produced by Garry West of Compass, and recorded in their Nashville studio. The Compass folks were kind enough to allow us to excerpt a few tracks to help introduce their music to our readers, and Odessa shared a few words about each of them.

Oh My Love  -  Listen now:   

“This is a song by our good friend Megan McCormick. She sent us a demo recording while we were song hunting and we all thought it had a great energy and groove.”

Single Girl  -  Listen now:   

“Single Girl is a fun traditional song ‚Äì very danceable. There are some heavier tunes on the album, so this one seemed like a good lighthearted addition.”

Good In The Kitchen  -  Listen now:   

“Good in the Kitchen is great – the band put this one together before I was a member. I love performing it live, it gets everyone to sing,and who doesn’t like getting dirty in the kitchen?

When we went into the studio to record Doors and Windows all of our material was very raw. We hadn’t had a lot of time together as a band to develop a concrete sound. I think that ended up working to our advantage because we were all open to each others ideas. There were no boundaries or preconceptions, it was a very natural process.

We all brought material to the table – originals and the like. We would play a song together, come up with loose arrangements, record it on Garage Band, listen back and then determine whether or we thought it was a good fit. A few of the tracks were added in the studio.”

Audio for all the tracks on Doors and Windows can be found on the Bearfoor site.

Jake tells us that a number of acoustic string acts will be showcasing as well this year, including Abigail Washburn’s Sparrow Quartet, Laurie Lewis and the RIght Hands, Bill Evan’s Soul Grass with Sam Bush, Bearfoot, and more.

A full conference schedule can be found online.

Yesterday was the big Christmas Concert and dinner at Arctic Village School. Kids played fiddles, guitars, mandolins, and banjos and sang Jingle Bells, Silent Night, The First Noel, I Saw the Light, and You Are My Sunshine. Outside, it was 40 below and the moon shone on the snow-covered ground.

Elders Gideon James, the Rev. Trimble Gilbert plus Wilbert Kendi helped my son Mike and I teach music all week. They are from the Athabaskan Indian fiddling tradition of rhythmic foot stomping and dancing. The kids loved it and many stayed after school to play just one more tune!

Arctic Village is the fourth stop in our Christmas tour that began Dec. 1 in Beaver and then continued on to Stevens Village and Tanana—little places along the Yukon River. We flew by small plane—all bundled up just in case we had to make an emergency landing. We usually camped out in schools—that sometimes had the only running water in the village.

The kids were so excited to see us come! It was so great to see their smiles as they picked up guitars or a banjo‚Ķ I loved what one little 7 year-old girl in Beaver told me as I played the fiddle for her. “It talks,” she said, “it talks!” And the kids in Stevens giggled and laughed so much as they tried square dancing by themselves. In Tanana, Pete Peters traveled with us and brought Native drumming and language for a couple songs.

I’m still amazed at how fast all the kids learn. We use color-coding and simple notation. It was our third week-long visit to Arctic Village this year‚Äîand junior high and high school fiddle students can easily play over twenty songs including Amazing Grace, I’ll Fly Away, Liza Jane, Will the Circle be Unbroken, and The best part is the joy they feel‚Äîand the sense of accomplishment. On the guitar, it only takes a few days to learn the chords and start flatpicking. The mandolin is great for little fingers because there are two finger chords. We don’t have a lot of banjos and acoustic basses‚Äîbut hopefully that will happen soon!

This trip is funded by school districts and Dancing with the Spirit—a new bluegrass music program for kids in Native villages in Alaska and Canada. Thru camps and school programs, young people take classes in fiddle, guitar, banjo, mandolin, and bass—plus sing, dance, and form bands. Music can bring success and hope to villages struggling with alcoholism, drugs, and suicide.

The Rev. Trimble Gilbert from Arctic Village says, “In the old days we fought tribal wars with arrowheads. It’s a different type of war now‚Äîagainst drugs and alcohol. I believe we can win with music.”

Dancing with the Spirit is a program to connect youth and elders through music. Music builds confidence, self-esteem, and the closeness of a family. Students can spend hours and hours playing guitars and fiddles, singing and dancing. The Dancing with the Spirit program hopes to get instruments in the hands of young Natives, teach them to play, train village musicians as teachers, write a music curriculum, and package the program so that it can be easily duplicated nationally and internationally.

What a great Christmas present! Give the gift of music! Tax-deductible contributions can be sent to:

Dancing with the Spirit
Episcopal Diocese of Alaska,
1205 Denali Way
Fairbanks, AK 99701

We’re doing an east coast fundraiser for Dancing with the Spirit with a Bearfoot Concert on Tuesday, Jan. 8th at St. John’s Episcopal Church in Kingston, New York at 7 pm with a silent auction with salmon hors d’oeuves starting at 6 pm. If you would like more information about the concert, please call the Rev. Duncan Burns at 845-338-3731 or contact me by email.

Bearfoot is a young Alaskan band from the bluegrass tradition that features harmony singing, twin fiddles, exquisite mandolin and guitar solos and solid bass. Bearfoot started when they were 14-17 years old as Cordova Alaska 4H Music Camp counselors. They won the Telluride Bluegrass Festival a year later in 2001. They’ve gone on to travel the United States, Canada, and Ireland–and have done 65 Bluegrass Camps for Kids along with their concerts. They have 3 CD’s to their credit and a website www.bearfootband.com

My son Mike, who’s with me on this Christmas bluegrass tour, plays guitar and twin mandolin for Bearfoot. He’s working on banjo and fiddle, too‚Äîand he’s great at repairing instruments. Sometimes he uses duct tape and heavy books in lieu of clamps! Today, we fly back to Fairbanks‚Äîand on to Allakaket for Christmas Sunday.

I’m a newly ordained Episcopal priest‚Äîso we’ll do church there and then a guitar and fiddle workshop and a dance later.

Then Monday morning, we fly on to Hughes for another guitar and fiddle workshop, a Christmas eve service, and a dance. We’re taking a guitar and a fiddle as a Christmas present for each community. We’ll be in Hughes for Christmas Day‚Äîand then back to our home in Cordova, Alaska on the 26th or 27th.

Merry Christmas one and all!!