Coral Ortiz photo
On the Trail opening Saturday night at Cafe Nine.
Quarantine put a “hold of their dreams.” So they wrote a song about it — and emerged onstage to perform it.
The song is called “What Do I Need With Love?” A new Connecticut-based band called On The Trail played it Saturday night at Cafe 9, and finished it to a standing ovation. Click on the video above to watch them perform it.
On The Trail’s lead vocalist and guitarist, Charlie Widmer, already has made a name for himself as an opera singer, Broadway belter and leader of a hip-hop R&B band, which performed previously at Cafe 9. Saturday night saw his latest effort to branch out, in a band that also includes Austin Scelzo on the fiddle and vocals, Tom Polizzi on mandolin and vocals and Matt Curley on bass.
“I started writing [the song] in the pandemic,” Widmer said of “What Do I Need With Love?” “The pandemic was especially hard for the entertainment industry, which we are still trying to recover from …
“A lot of those lyrics are me having an internal argument with myself and that negative voice about giving up hope. A constant mental battle — what’s the point? What’s the use?”
The song itself, and Saturday night’s set, offered an answer.
After the set, they spoke with the Independent (in the above video) about how they came together from different corners of the state, from different musical traditions, to dive into a bluegrass project together. For Widmer, as for many other musicians in his generation, Chris Thile was the entree to the genre.
The group has numerous gigs coming up, and an album in the works. (Click here to learn more.)
The main act, the Wildmans, is a trio from Virginia who have started making a name on the traditional music circuit with a combination of Appalachian fiddle tunes mixed with originals and a couple of albums under their belt. Siblings Aila and Eli Wildman and Victor Furtado have won competitions on fiddle, mandolin, and banjo, respectively, at a festival in Galax, Va. that is a linchpin of the national traditional music scene. Click on the video to watch one of the instrumental numbers they performed at Cafe 9. Like On The Trail, they’re keeping alive a tradition for a new generation, with their own spin.
Diversity in music from the NHI!!!! The Wildmans is more like what I think of when I think of Bluegrass. The musicmanship displayed on their selection shows their talent and also shows the beauty of this genre of American Folk Music. Hope I get to hear them in person but thanks for posting the music!!