The Deseret String Band/Bunkhouse Orchestra
Formed in 1972, the Deseret String Band has performed throughout the US and Europe and Japan. The band's purpose is to explore pioneer and cowboy music of the 19th-century West. It has acquired a few aliases through the years in addition to The Bunkhouse Orchestra, including the Orchestre de Bunque and the String Band of Desire. Playing fiddle, banjo, guitar, mandolin, banjo-mandolin, banjo-cello, harmonica, various squeeze boxes, and pitched fork, the band sings and plays dozens of dance tunes, pioneer ballads, cowboy songs, and old country melodies.Members
Hal Cannon is the Founding Director of the Western Folklife Center and the famed Cowboy Poetry Gathering in Elko, Nevada. He has published a dozen books and recordings on the folk arts of the West and plays squeeze boxes, guitar, and obscure instruments from the banjo family. He has collected many of the band's songs from the pioneering West.
Leonard Coulson owns Intermountain Guitar and Banjo, a shop that specializes in vintage instrument building, repair and sales. Leonard is known worldwide for the fine banjos he constructs. In the group, Leonard plays old-time banjo and is renowned for singing long, tongue-twisting songs.
Ron Kane has been an avalanche expert at Alta Ski Resort for the past 25 years. As a working cowboy in the summer, Ron's interest in 19th-century vocal and fiddle styles gives his performance a particularly authentic feel. He performs a large repertoire of old fiddle tunes.
Meghan Merker is a graphic artist and in summers works as a ranch hand. She has been the primary illustrator for Sing Out Magazine for the past 15 years. She plays guitar and fiddle in the band. She sings and is sometimes moved to step-dance in performance.
Tom Carter is an occasional member of the band, mostly in recording projects. Carter is an architectural historian at the University of Utah. He has played old-time music since high school in the mid-'60s and, while a graduate student at the University of North Carolina, played with the Fuzzy Mountain String Band. He plays all string instruments with aplomb. Touring
The group played for the final medal ceremony of the 1998 Winter Olympics in Nagano, Japan, and was the official band of the America/3 Yachting Team. Notable performances include: appearances with the Utah Symphony; The Nature Conservancy at Central Park, New York; the National Folk Festival at Wolf Trapp Farm; the Epelange Folk Festival in Lausanne, Switzerland; the Cowboy Poetry Gathering in Elko, Nevada; the Peter Britt Music Festival; Arts Alaska Tour; Western States Arts Foundation Tour; Utah Arts Tour; Buffalo Bill Historical Museum; and at more than 100 university and community concerts throughout the US and Europe.
Reviews
"The songs are faithfully rendered here by four extremely talented musicians who employ a variety of instruments and arrangements that culminate in a thoroughly pleasing musical experience."
- Bluegrass Unlimited
"The Deseret String Band holds audiences in a mesmerizing whirlwind of mandolin, guitar, banjo, and fiddle strings. It is joyful, lively music with personality, often with a sense of humor, played with intensity...."
- Salt Lake Tribune
"If there is a single fiber of pioneer in your body, the Deseret String Band will find it and sing to it. Their music is impossible not to enjoy. If offers a foothold in reality no high-gloss group can give you."
- Deseret News
"Anything I could say about the band capturing the spirit of old-time music would not be enough to describe the feeling of joy which comes through their music... Their refreshing creativity can be seen in their arrangements, original lyrics, and instrumentation...While their respect for tradition is evident in every aspect of their music... All have superb control of their respective instruments and apply their talents with the utmost sensitivity on each and every song."
- Folk Scene Magazine
Hal Cannon Hal Cannon's Music Discography DSB History
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