In This World They’re Bound to Ramble: The Johnson Family at the Hodo

Have mercy lord on this poor sinner, when it comes, that judgment day,” sings Pete Hoffman, guitarist and composer in the bluegrass group, Johnson Family Band, in “Have Mercy Lord,” the opening song from their debut “Old Ruby,” album, which will be available at their CD release party, Wednesday the 21st, at the Hodo Lounge. The song is tinged with gospel feelings and sets the stage for this well-crafted bluegrass album.

“Old Ruby,” a reference to the Red River, is an example of how music should sound. The album is classic bluegrass without a hint of pretension or satire muddying the sound. If you close your eyes you are unable to distinguish this album from bluegrass albums recorded in the genre’s heyday.

Pete Hoffman and Tom Johnson are the primary songwriters and share singing duties. Pete’s voice is rich and nuanced and was made for singing. Tom’s voice is scratchy and gives the music a front porch feel, like one is watching their pa singing up a storm in the Appalachians. The instruments are precise and the songs are on target. The band has the potential to be a jam band, especially live, but on the record they keep their songs on point with good arrangements that bring to mind religious festivals or days spent drinking and partying.

“Most of the lyrics on this album are closer to tradition, the diction is consciously of that era,” Pete said. “There is no satire in what we do. We never intended for what we do to be a novelty act. We just want to make music, do what we think is good music.  a lot of what we try to do is capture and pay homage to this old mountain sound that we don’t see much of in this area.. A lot of what we’re doing is trying to take aspects of tradition and preserve them.”

“Old Ruby,” was recorded in a month. “It’s the fastest I’ve ever done an album,” Pete said. Their upcoming show, “…is not just a CD release party, but a tour kick off. It starts a west coast tour we’re doing so we’ve been in a mad dash to get the album mixed and recorded.”

“None of us grew up listening to bluegrass. This all something we are fairly new to. We all have our own things going on, and we come from so many different backgrounds—jazz, pop, rock and roll, that we are not trying to copy something. We are trying to pay homage to it, and give it our own voice,” Pete said.
The band, a mix of local men and women, is Tom Johnson on dobro, Eddie Velo on banjo, Mark Reitan on mandolin, Pete Hoffman on guitar, Ross Cameron on upright bass, and Haley Rydell on Fiddle. “We met in college, bars, we all came from really unique backgrounds. [We] all come from the Midwest and all live in this area.

Haley Rydell is a pop singer and performs around Fargo under her own name. Tom is a student of jazz, a jazz performance major, and when he graduated he got a job as an adjunct professor at MSUM.” Tending bar, pre-law, and farming are some of the other day jobs that the musicians hold.
The band, in an attempt to celebrate bluegrass music, plays covers although they aren’t a cover band. “We actually play a lot of traditional material. A lot of gigs where we play five, six hours straight, we just don’t have that much [original] material. We’re very proud of our original music but we show no hesitation in playing traditional music,” Pete said.

The show, scheduled to begin at 8:30, is free. The Minnesota beer makers Summit will be staging a keg party in the Lounge on the same day, starting at 5pm. A five-course meal, accompanied by different kinds of Summit Beer, starts at 6 in the HoDo’s restaurant.

If You Go

Who: Johnson Family Band
What: Bluegrass, the real thing
Where: HoDo Lounge
When: May 21, 8:30pm
How Much: No cover
Info: (701) 478-6969