Appleseed Collective’s ‘string swing’ has New Orleans roots

Appleseed Collective hails from Ann Arbor, Mich., but its “progressive string swing” has its roots in New Orleans.

It was in the Crescent City that Andrew Brown, the band’s founder, drew much of the inspiration for its sound, including its percussion.

“I’d never even heard of a washboard player until I went to New Orleans,” he said.

Then, back in Ann Arbor, by chance, Brown literally walked into the band that would become Appleseed Collective.

“I’d just got back from New Orleans and was really into the swing stuff and I ran into our fiddle player Brandon (Smith) on the street, randomly,” said Brown, who sings and plays guitar. “He was busking outside a cafe downtown. I played with him and then … we got the band together.”

The other members, who signed up in 2010, are Vincent Russo, the band’s percussionist, who spends most of his time playing, you got it, washboard, and upright bassist Eric Dawe.

For the last five years, the quartet has been recording and incessantly touring, building its reputation in the burgeoning folk and roots world.

“I feel like the roots music revival has been happening for a long time, but in the last 10 years it’s really come to the forefront,” Brown said. “The movie ‘O Brother, Where Art Thou?’ really brought it out, and then there have been all these folk and bluegrass festivals. The thing I like about our band is we fit in there but we’re just a little bit different.”

Those differences come because Appleseed Collective members are far from purists. That can be heard on the band’s two studio albums and two live recordings, including the new “The Tour Tapes.” In addition to its original songs, the quartet plays some illuminating covers in its live show.

“We do a Van Morrison, Michael Jackson, a Weezer medley,” Brown said. “Last night, I played some Jimi Hendrix. We do some gypsy jazz, Django Reinhardt. We like to keep the place jumping.”

That mixture, Brown said, helps Appleseed Collective draw a wide ranging audience.

“We have a lot of stuff the older crowd likes and a lot for younger people too,” he said. “Everybody from kids to teenagers to young adults to midlife to people in their 60s and up like the band.

“The thing that I like about that is it’s not like we’re trying to do that.”

Appleseed Collective spent eight months of 2015 on the road – “Definitely, we are becoming seasoned,” Brown said – and the members are on their way to matching that in 2016.

And their shows, well, they’re long and no two are ever alike.

“Our goal is try to have each show sort of be unique,” Brown said. “We have the stuff that’s been recorded that gets played. But we have a lot of opportunity for improvisation in a single, soloist sense and as a band. We usually play 90 minutes or more, unless they want us to play shorter, like an hour. But if we have our way, we go for a while. My only problem is trying to get these guys to stop.”

Perhaps in live performance is where Appleseed Collective reflects something of its Michigan roots, the home of Iggy Pop and the Stooges and MC5, Bob Seger and the White Stripes.

“We like to think we’ve got a little Stooges and MC5 blood in us,” Brown said. “But we kind of got interested in pre-World War II music. After doing that, we wanted to blend it with more modern influences, rock and pop and soul. But we do it intensely and passionately, like the Stooges.”

This story was originally published July 27, 2016 at 8:42 PM with the headline "Appleseed Collective’s ‘string swing’ has New Orleans roots."