Marc Dykeman is guitarist and vocalist with the High and Wides string band. We talked about the band and Dykeman’s life recently.
The Washington Post calls the band, based on the Eastern Shore and in Baltimore, “apostles of hillbilly boogie.” A review by Purple Fiddle says, “They draw on a shared background playing straight ahead bluegrass, but weave in influences from new wave to old time to make music that evokes the era before country, bluegrass, rockabilly, western swing, and rock ‘n’ roll broke off into separate and strictly defined genres.”
The band’s members are Sam Guthridge (banjo, mandolin, vocals), Nate Grower (fiddle), Mike Buccino (bass), and Dykeman (guitar, vocals).
Dykeman lives in Kent County and works at Washington College in Chestertown. His wife, Leah Schell, has taught at the Friendship Montessori School for 20 years. The couple moved to Church Hill in Queen Anne’s County from Annapolis in 2000.
Dykeman earned a B.A. in music from Lenoir-Rhyne College in Hickory, N.C., and an M.A. in history from Washington College.
Dykeman says that he owes his interest in music to his mother, who has an M.A. in voice. He grew up listening to classical music and jazz but rebelled against his mother in high school by taking up punk rock, which he admits he still enjoys.
He describes Annapolis in the ‘90s as a vibrant musical scene for teenagers, taking music, he claims, out of a formal space (the concert hall) and freeing it. He sees a connection between that music scene and his current work with bluegrass.
When I asked him how his mother feels about the group’s choice in music, he replied that she’s a fan and goes to their shows, but that she wishes he would come to her for vocal coaching. He admits he probably should, but he’s too stubborn.
From 2002 until 2014, he performed with the Chester River Run Off. The band wanted to pursue a new sound inspired by ‘40s rockabilly, western swing, old time (pre-World War II) string band music, and early rock and roll. Thus was born the High and Wides.
When asked about the group’s name, Dykeman replied “High, wide, and handsome is an old phrase meaning free and easy, so we took the handsome off to make it more ambiguous. High and wide can be a baseball pitch, a type of train, or any number of things, but it feels old and cool.” Dykeman also referred to a song by Eddie Hill, “High, Wide, and Handsome.”
The group was also inspired by a song in two-part harmony by the Callahan Brothers, “Lonesome Freight Train Blues.” According to Dykeman, the period around World War II was an interesting time in music. Before the war, the Callahan Brothers played mountain music. After the war, music became more cosmopolitan, a more modern type of string band music. The High and Wides especially like transitional music.
To watch them in action, here are some High and Wides performances.
The group performs mostly in Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia, and West Virginia, and occasionally in North Carolina. They recently played at the Maryland Folk Festival in Salisbury. The High and Wides like to play at the Charm City Blue Grass Festival in Baltimore. Two members of the group live in Baltimore and Dykeman describes it as “a lively scene for string band players.”
The group has a new album, “Blood-Family Harmony Classics” that can be ordered online.
A native of Wicomico County, George Shivers holds a doctorate from the University of Maryland and taught in the Foreign Language Dept. of Washington College for 38 years before retiring in 2007. He is also very interested in the history and culture of the Eastern Shore, African American history in particular.
Title image: Pond at Pickering Creek Audubon Center, Talbot Co. Photo: Jan Plotczyk