ARTS

Freight Hoppers love their music

by Aldis Russell

It may come as a surprise to learn that Alicia Silverstone named the Freight Hoppers as her favorite band on MTV. Old time string band music is a far cry from Hollywood glamour, yet the Freight Hoppers fanbase is more varied than one might expect.

The audience at the Cat in the Cream was treated to a taste of what has made this band so popular Sunday. Their performance was marked by enthusiastic playing, unassuming style and sheer love of the music that has been the key to their success. The Freight Hoppers are everything one would expect from an old time string band and more.

With a varied repertoire, the Freight Hoppers played everything from spiritual songs to songs about bootleg liquor and old gambling tunes - even several covers of Carter Family songs.

One of the highlights of the evening was a haunting and eerily beautiful version of Little Sadie, yet mellow tunes were in the minority. Most of the songs were upbeat, with the band calling out for dancing. This request was made three times before a brave few ventured up to the front of the stage at the end of the first set.

During the break, fiddler David Bass gave flatfooting lessons, so that the start of the second set had Oberlin students in all corners of the room trying out their new moves. The band was receptive to the audience's enthusiasm and played a lively second set and a couple requests. Bass, who had perfected his flatfoot while competing with trains in the New York subway, impressively managed to simultaneously play his fiddle while maintaining a rollicking dance step.

The Freight Hoppers have only been playing together for six years, yet they have a strong sense of cohesiveness that seems to stem from a mutual respect for the music. During their performance, the band members often circled in towards one another with an apparent disregard for their microphones.

Playing off of and with one another, their enthusiasm was infectious. Their easy-going attitudes and laid back sense of humor set a casual tone for the evening even though the band maintained a high level of energy that kept the audience entertained throughout the show. The band wasn't technically perfect, but its spirit flowed into each song and made the performance enjoyable.

Although many of the band members have roots in bluegrass, each began playing old time music of their own accord, eventually coming together to form The Freight Hoppers. The band is comprised of Frank Lee on the banjo and vocals, Cary Fridley on guitar and vocals, David Bass on fiddle and standing in on bass the for the weekend was Meredith Macintosh.

The concert was originally scheduled for Saturday night but had to be postponed when the band got stranded in snow in Michigan. Having to wait a night did not seem to have deterred fans from the local area, however, as the audience was comprised of about half non-college students, ranging in age from sixteen to sixty and coming from as far away as Cleveland to hear the Freight Hoppers play.

Waiting a night to play Oberlin had not dampened the spirits of Fridley either, who declared "this feels like a really great night for playing music. I'm kinda glad that we got snowed in last night, because it might not have been such a good night for playing music." And when the evening was over, most of the audience members seemed to agree that it had been a good night for playing music ... and dancing.

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Copyright © 1999, The Oberlin Review.
Volume 127, Number 17, March 12, 1999

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