Kicking Hamlet in the nuts and alt-country before it was hip

by Chris Aaland

Putting words to melodies is as natural as breathing. Just listen to your kid. Six-year-old Otto sings in the shower, his bed and the backseat of the Tundra. Most of his lyrics are spontaneous gibberish, set to the tune of “Iron Man.” Anyone who has ever strummed a guitar has done the same thing, combining three verses and a chorus with simple chords like C, D and G.

But crafting a song is an art. And few succeed at it. Some of the finest tunesmiths in Americana music visit town this week. 

I was fortunate to have a late-night chat last week with one of them – Mike Finders, chief singer, songwriter and guitarist with Finnders and Youngberg (yes, two "Ns" in the band version of his name, but more on that later). And since Finnders & Youngberg is a fixture of the Front Range acoustic music scene, the discussion quickly turned to September’s devastating floods in Northern Colorado, how it affected fellow musicians and how it shapes his craft.

Americana band Finnders and Youngberg play the Henry Strater Theatre on Sat., Nov. 9, at 8 p.m.

Finders witnessed more than his fair share of flooding in his native Iowa. But those floods were different … slowly rising rivers that eventually overtook their banks and levees. Iowans had time to react and prepare. Lyons and other towns were ravaged in mere minutes by a once-in-500-year flash flood. Their residents weren’t as fortunate.

“Hundreds and hundreds of our dear musical community friends suffered more than I can compare to,” he said. “Does that mean that I can write a flood song if I haven’t suffered as bad as somebody else? I don’t know. Songs are gifts."

He recalled a songwriting workshop this summer, which he co-hosted with two other musicians. One, a young woman who talked about using exercises that involved paintings and the first 10 adjectives that pop into your head. "She emphasized a lot of great things that were great skills for writers," he recalled. "The cynic in my mind, the whole time she was talking, was saying ‘That sounds to me like a high school creative writing assignment.’ I was like, honey, how about this? Cheat on your wife and feel completely guilty about it. Those are much more real prompts for songwriting."

Finders, who's in his 40s, says there's no substitute for real life experiences. His songs have gotten better as he’s endured tragedy, and the more he lives through, the more he can identify with others. "That’s how you write a song. Everybody endures tragedy. Trying to get whatever art you can out of those things is ultimately the charge of artists in our generation," he says. "You need to live your life and then you need to express it and qualify it. The world is hard enough to figure out.”

And when all else fails, Finders resorts to the ultimate muse, Shakespeare himself, for inspiration. “I feel like Hamlet is such a chump. You want to reach back through time and space and kick him right in the nuts and tell him to deal with it. He’s motivating to me," he says. "That character … that whole play is about showing the dangers of not making a decision and acting on it. In this day and age, when you’re so keenly aware of all the possible options, Hamlet helps. It’s so painfully obvious.”

Finnders and Youngberg has morphed from a cute little quartet of two married couples singing wistful slices of Rockwellian Americana into a five-piece outfit that seeks darker subject matter. Divorce, in their case between Mike and Amy Finders, will do that. The former Mrs. Finders even kept the legal rights to the original lineup’s name, thus the extra “N” in its current moniker. The emotional wounds are fresh and evident in Finders’ songs. And he’s endured. FY5 has become a crowd favorite at the Durango Bluegrass Meltdown and Pagosa Folk’n Bluegrass Festival; they play at 8 p.m. Saturday at the Henry Strater Theatre. This time around, they’re supporting their new five-song EP, “I Don’t Want Love You Won’t Give Until I Cry,” a record that’s ripping up the national bluegrass and folk charts.

Two other great songwriters, Robin & Linda Williams, are back for the first time in more than a decade at 7:30 p.m. tonight (Thurs., Nov.  7) at the Community Concert Hall. I last saw them in February 2001 at the Hank. Critically revered for their rich harmonies and original songwriting rooted in country, bluegrass and gospel, they’re best known for three decades of work on “A Prairie Home Companion,” appearing regularly with Garrison Keillor and Mollie O’Brien as the Hopeful Gospel Quartet.

Crash Music in the historic Aztec Theatre in Aztec, N.M., hosts an evening of antique pop with the duos Jane & Hoyle and Victor & Penny on Saturday. Jane & Hoyle, comprised of Jane Voss and Hoyle Osborne, are the better-known half of the bill, at least locally. Hoyle played ragtime piano at the Diamond Belle Saloon for 20 years and was featured in the closing scene of “Cowboys & Aliens.” Jane’s songs have been recorded by the likes of Dave Van Ronk, Rosalie Sorrels and Chuck Pyle. Victor & Penny are Jeff Freling and Erin McGrane. With a fiery ukulele and a red-hot jazz guitar, they put the swing, jump, dance and roll into early rock. Freling recently quit his regular gig as guitarist in the Blue Man Group.

This week’s Top Shelf list includes five of my favorite Robin & Linda Williams tunes of all-time. Alt-country hipsters may view them as old fogies, but from the late 1970s through the ’90s, they were the closest thing to Truckstop Honeymoon around.

1. “Rolling and Rambling (The Death of Hank Williams),” from “Devil of a Dream” 1998.

2. “Traffic Light,” from “Sugar for Sugar,” 1996.

3. “Bar Band in Hillbilly Heaven,” from “In the Company of Strangers,” 2000.

4. “Old Plank Road,” from “Deeper Waters,” 2004.

5. “Men with Guns,” from “Devil of a Dream,” 1998.

Every honky-tonk hero who had a broken heart and a six-pack to go? Email me at chrisa@gobrainstorm.net.