Strings Attached: Hot Buttered Rum

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SOME BANDS change their names to signal a change in approach, a shift in ideals, an overarching growth in a stark new direction.

When Hot Buttered Rum String Band became Hot Buttered Rum, it was because their old name just didn't fit.

Literally.

"Basically it was just too long," guitarist Nat Keefe said of the band's original moniker. "It didn't look good on a marquee; it didn't fit. It was more trouble than it was worth."

Musically, the band is still all about strings, playing a brand of hybrid bluegrass that tosses elements of reggae, folk and rock into its traditional roots. There's even a West African influence, courtesy of Keefe. It came from when he studied in Ghana in 1999 and 2001, a journey that started during his final semester at Lewis & Clark College in Portland, Ore.

Part of the motivation for his trip came from West African music he'd heard, but much of it stemmed from a book he read in college, "African Rhythm and African Sensibility" by John Chernoff.

"It's sort of an academic book," Keefe said. "It's about as much of the context of how [a song is] being played than what is being played. So I had to go there and check it out. It's true for West African music and other places. It's about the regional thing and different social constructs."

Keefe said he's applied this principle to Hot Buttered Rum shows, tailoring what the band plays based on a performance's setting and audience.

"Seventy to 80 percent of the time we're playing a dance concert," he said. "We also get to play art things where it's more of a sit-down thing. Sometimes we play children's concerts."

Keefe produced a paper, a short film, an album of West African field recordings, "GHANA Boko Paa," and a solo album, "Music for Ordinary Motion" during his trips.

"The first time I was there I was doing a semester in college so it was my final academic thing," he said. "The film thing is on my MySpace. It's some really raw authentic footage of some people doing dances. I went and offered my services to a friend. He was looking for someone to record some video to pass down these traditional dances to kids who are moving to the cities."

His time in Africa taught him about how to play music as a band leader -- and helped him to improve his guitar and drum chops.

"It made me think a lot about my role as a master drummer," he said. "In West African music there's a master drummer who calls a lot of the shots as to how the evening goes down through the language of the drum fills, 'OK its time for the dancers to come in,' or 'Let's cool it down for a bit.' I realized, 'Wow, that's just what [The Grateful Dead's] Jerry Garcia is but in a different language.' It just clued me in as my role as being the master drummer of this kind of music."

And that African influence weighs in on some HBR songs, he said.

"We do a lot of traditional bluegrass, rock 'n' roll and reggae," Keefe said. "We do some stuff from African Diaspora. 'Waterpocket Fold' from 'Well-Oiled Machine,' for example. That number takes an Eastern Ghanian song and re-works it. The song is comprised of five interlocking drum parts we took them and made it five string parts."

Hot Buttered Rum's no stranger to covers. One of Keefe's favorites is "Coal Mining Woman" by Reel World String Band, an all-girl roots music group from upstate New York.

"I discovered this obscure tune and fell in love with it and I talked to them and they're thrilled that we play it," Keefe said.

As for Africa, Keefe said he's not sure when he'll be back. Maybe he's just waiting for his cue.

» The State Theatre, 220 N. Washington St.; Wed., 7:30 p.m., $10 advance, $12 doors; 703-237-0300. (East Falls Church)

Written by Express contributor Rudi Greenberg
Photos courtesy Madison House Publicity