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Winter Park / Live Music: WhiteWater Ramble makes waves

by Cyndi Palmer
Sky-Hi Daily News

WhiteWater Ramble is carving its way into the Fraser Valley to share its “high-octane, Rocky Mountain dance-grass/jamgrass” at Buckets Saloon on Saturday.

Its music is deeply rooted in blues, bluegrass, funk, jazz, swing, techno, rock, reggae and country and explores the musical boundaries and cohesion of all of them.

“Dance/jamgrass” is simply defined as bluegrass with an emphasis on improv jamming. The quintet is brought together through the sounds of mandolin, acoustic guitar, fiddle, upright bass, vocals and drums to offer up what has been described as tightly improvised material.



The band consists of Patrick Sites on acoustic and electric mandolin, as well as lead and backup vocals; Brian Coddington on acoustic guitar and lead and backup vocals; Howard Montgomery playing upright bass and singing backup vocals, and newest member of the band, A.C. Lao, playing drums and percussion instruments.

The Buckets show also will feature Bobby Krech (on fiddle), formerly of the Hunker Down bluegrass band from Fraser.



WhiteWater Ramble’s major influences are as diverse as their musical backgrounds and include The Grateful Dead, Johnny Cash, Phish, Sam Bush, David Grisman, Miles Davis, The Allman Brothers Band, Sound Tribe Sector 9, The Disco Biscuits, Particle, Ralph Stanley, Bob Marley, Leftover Salmon, Yonder Mountain String Band, String Cheese Incident, Railroad Earth, Acoustic Syndicate, Doc Watson, Jorma Kaukonnen, Bill Monroe, Django Reinhardt, Stephane Grappelli, Van Morrison, George Clinton, Bob Dylan, B.B. King and Robert Johnson.

“As much as the band creates its own style, the style creates itself. The music is dependent on the moment, honest and respectful to the road behind.”

The band formed in 2004 and in just over two year’s time has had the opportunity to open for such key acts as for Dark Star Orchestra, Karl Denson’s Tiny Universe, The David Grisman Quintet, Railroad Earth, Jerry Douglas, Tony Furtado, Vince Herman and Great American Taxi, SplitLip Rayfield, Shanti Groove, Wendy Woo, Larry Keel and Natural Bridge, Shakedown Street, Benny Galloway and the Broke Mountain Trio, The Open Road Bluegrass Band, The Railbenders and Newcomers Home.

They’ve performed and headlined on almost every major stage in northern Colorado and most major venues across all of Colorado, Idaho and Wyoming; and gave more than 100 performances in 2006 across the Rocky Mountain region and beyond.

Based in Fort Collins, WhiteWater Ramble has headlined (or co-headlined) for the

2006 Keystone Brews and Bluegrass Festival, 2006 KSMT Breckenridge Brewfestival, Johnny Cash Tribute Event, 2006 Desert Rocks Festival and the 2006 CletusFest. Also to their credit, WWR has already appeared at the 2006 Nedfest, 2006 Denver People’s Fair (Main Stage), 2006 SouthPark Music Festival, 2006 Denver’s Westword Music Showcase, at the grand opening of the Budweiser Event Center, 2006 Battlerusa, 2006 10KLF Cosmic Break Tour, 2005 and 2006 Fort Collins NewWest Fests, 2005 Pickin’ On the Poudre Festival, 2005 Thunder in the Rockies, 3rd Annual Spring Fever Festival, the 2004 Easy Street Marathon, Trees, Water, and People Benefit Parties and Colorado Renewable Energy Society Benefit.

WhiteWater Ramble has jammed a couple times at the Untamed Southwest Grill in Winter Park but this is their debut performance at Buckets Saloon.


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