A high school science project led Grace Van’t Hof to her musical destiny. Growing up in western Michigan, she made a banjo using wood and deer hide, and the instrument won second place in a state Science Olympiad.
“I was a huge nerd,” says Van’t Hof, now 22 and a member of the Asheville band Silver Dagger. “I liked (the instrument) so much I sought out banjo music, which led me to bluegrass. A lot of bluegrass pickers know the same songs or can fake their way through it. You can jam with anybody and make an instant friend.”
These days Van’t Hof plays a 1983 Gibson Reno banjo and a mahogany Sullivan custom model, built for her in 2008.
The seeds for Silver Dagger were sown three years ago at the Renaissance Nashville Hotel. That’s where Van’t Hof met bassist Ashleigh Caudill. The two women, in town for a bluegrass conference, met in the hotel lobby and were soon singing Louvin Brothers songs together.
“The night ended up with us laying on the floor and swapping jamming stories at four in the morning. It was really cool,” Van’t Hof says.
These days, Caudill and Van’t Hof share a West Asheville house with their Silver Dagger band mates, guitarist Ricky Cooper and mandolin player Matt Purington.
Van’t Hof’s locomotive licks jolt their version of the traditional tune “Can’t Help But Wonder Where I’m Bound.” Silver Dagger’s live recording of the song also boasts acoustic interplay that would make Garcia & Grisman proud.
A Van’t Hof composition “I’ll Get It Myself,” is a mix of radio-ghost vocals and modern, pissed-off lyrics.
“It’s kind of a bitchy song,” she says. “I actually wrote it right after my boyfriend broke up with me. I have a hard time writing a song when I’m in a good mood. We like sad songs where people die or cheat or stuff. The happy ones are boring.”
Do you have a favorite version of the old folk tune “Silver Dagger,” which has been recorded by everyone from Bob Dylan to Dolly Parton to The Byrds? My personal favorite is Dolly Parton’s version. She’s amazing. That song’s got such an interesting female perspective to hear her sing it in that plaintive mountain version…I can empathize with her version.
How does Silver Dagger go about writing your own bluegrass songs? Ashleigh’s an amazing songwriter. Our guitar player Coop writes some amazing instrumentals with our mandolin player. Every once in a while I come up with something.
Any plans for a studio record? We’re hoping to have a three song EP done in three or four months and the rest of a 12-track record done by early fall.
Silver Dagger is touring a lot. In your travels have you found any particular venues that surprised you by how well they received bluegrass? I can’t say I was surprised, but I think the Fletcher (N.C.) Feed and Seed, where we played our first gig, was so amazing. We had an amazing response and they invited us back before we even left the stage. We love the Feed and Seed. It used to be a hardware store and now it’s sort of a non-denominational church that has music there on Friday and Saturday nights.
What are some artists you listen to outside of bluegrass? We’ve been wearing out this country CD by Robbie Fulks. I like Django Reinhardt and Stephane Grappelli—all that cool swing-jazz stuff. A lot of roots country...and we listen to the radio a ton. We listen to WNCW a lot. There’s usually at least one radio or CD player going at all times.
How has living in a house with the rest of the band impacted your creativity? I was kind of concerned when I found out we were all going to be living in the same house because I didn’t want us to have some crazy fight, then have the band breakup before it got off the ground. But it turned out really, really nice. We can practice almost any time. We just sort of go and knock on somebody's door. The other thing that’s really handy about it is we’ll all work on booking venues together, which is a lot easier when you’re all in the same room. It’s inspiring to live in the same house with other musicians because if someone else is practicing all day you go, “Oh, I should probably go sit down with the metronome.”
What’s the key to keeping lyrical themes of new bluegrass song current? Ashleigh is really, really good at writing a song completely out of her mind and making it sound old. That’s a really great quality to have, something other songwriters like Dolly and Gillian Welch have. The key with the whole bluegrass thing is to keep it down-to-earth, not too lofty or complicated. Bluegrass is sort of distilled down to what needs to be said, in a beautiful way and not very flashy.
Speaking of that, you’re also a graphic designer. Lessons learned in visual art can be real helpful to musicians—like if one part of a song or painting is busy, another part should usually be simpler. How has design and music cross-referenced for you? You kind of have to know what you’re real good at and get better at that—that’s all that’s going to set you apart. Find out what makes you excited about what you do, so you don’t burn out. That’s a thing with music too. No one wants to see a bunch of clones.
Well, what’s the “thing you do best” on banjo? What I like to do on the banjo—and I think I’m good at—is play a lot of fast, pentatonic things in a blues shape. And I like playing in B minor.
Silver Dagger opens for Brittany Reilly at 7 p.m. May 1 at Smiley’s Acoustic Café.
For more info, visit www.myspace.com/silverdaggerbluegrass.
