Warming up their voices on a local radio show, brothers Curtis, Brad, and Bryan Rempel of the band High Valley prepare for two shows at the Rockbox Theater this weekend. The group from Alberta, Canada is enjoying commercial and popular success with their original music.
Details:
High Valley will perform two concerts at the Rockbox Theater on January 8-9. The shows begin at 7pm on Friday and Saturday nights. Tickets are $10 with reserved seating. For ticket information, call 830-997-7625 or visit www.rockboxtheater.com.
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High Valley
by Phil Houseal
January 6, 2010
You really should make an effort to go hear the band High Valley at the Rockbox Theater this weekend. After all, they traveled 2,852 miles to get here.
When I called Brad Rempel, oldest of three brothers in this up and coming family band, he was loading the van for their 8-hour trip from La Crete, Alberta, Canada to the nearest airport. (I asked him the temperature, and he didn’t know for sure. He called me back to casually report it was minus 30 degrees Celsius - about 22 degrees F below zero. That was air temperature, not windchill.)
The band was heading to Nashville for the first stop on their current road trip. The 8-hour drive to the airport does not intimidate our hardy northern neighbors, even including literally having to drive across a frozen river.
“It beats driving to Nashville ,” he explained. “That is a 45-hour trip. But we have done it quite a few times.”
Regular trips across North and Central America have been the key to High Valley’s success at such an early age. Though all three brothers - Brad, Curtis, and Bryan - are younger than 25, they have been playing as a band for 13 years, and singing together their entire lives. In a town like La Crete, everyone sings.
“We grew up singing together as a family,” Rempel said. “In the Mennonite church, harmony is part of the worship service. Everyone in town knows how to sing harmony.”
The boys’ religious and rural upbringing are at the heart of the band’s music and mission. Their grandfather was shunned from a Mennonite colony in Mexico for committing the cardinal sin of buying a truck. The rest of the community still used buggies.
“He kind of thought outside the box,” Rempel said.
Nonplussed, he relocated his family to La Crete, another Mennonite community perched on the upper reaches of Alberta, roughly parallel with Juneau. Farming is the major local industry, and the Rempel boys spent many hours riding tractors across fields of canola and wheat. One of their original songs is called “On The Combine.”
“I wrote lot of songs on that combine,” Rempel said. “That’s definitely in our favor when we perform it live. Everybody has story about growing up or spending time on farm. And people in the city are intrigued about us living out in the sticks.”
That rural upbringing also keeps them grounded. Even performing live on the Canadian Country Music Awards for 1 million viewers, sharing the stage with Reba McEntire and Martina McBride, didn’t get them out of doing their chores.
“When we get home, Dad still puts us to work digging out a grain bin or working on a tractor,” Rempel said, laughing.
While they cherish their roots, they also recognize their good fortune.
“Music is totally an escape for us. Everybody in La Crete grows up working at a sawmill or on a farm. It’s not that we hated the idea of staying in town, but we always dreamed of getting outside the box. We have been blessed with incredible experiences.”
In their travels, they make it a point to visit as places like their hometown as they can.
“We play every single small town we can possibly find. Every town has its story. Small towns have been our bread and butter the last 10 years.”
Because of that work ethic - performing 110 concerts in 5 months - and their fresh sound, High Valley landed a record deal, management and booking agent. Their music reflects their background: it’s country but not corny, bluegrass but not boring. All their live shows feature mandolin, acoustic guitar, bass, and drums.
“If you can imagine Diamond Rio or Alabama starting up in 2010, that is our sound. It’s country, but more organic, more acoustic, and of course more harmony.”
The band mostly likes to sing of positive things, family, hard work, and faith.
“We set out making music - not to pay the bills, but to make music. Our music appeals to all ages, and it’s great for the whole family. We tell the stories behind the songs. Everybody is going to leave encouraged and hopefully laughing as well. That’s something all of America could use right now.”