Passers-by peered into the Roxstone cafe’s picture windows. To their surprise, what they saw was a five-person band settled in the corner.
Last Saturday, Sissy and the Hobos took the floor of the shop. The band set up as people mosied through the storefront. Soon the tiny venue was comfortably packed making for a cozy setting to enjoy some folky bluegrass tunes. It was a perfect alternative to the music pub scene.
“We like performing in small venues, it makes for an intimate and relaxed show,” said Juanita Bourque, one half of the band’s vocal duo.
“It’s nice that local businesses are supporting music. Back when I was in college, which was quite a few years ago now, it was so hard to play anywhere. Now it seems like a lot of businesses are opening their doors to local musicians and that’s really nice to see that support,” said Tony Scott, guitar and mandolin player.
Sissy and the Hobos have only been together for a little over two years. In that time they’ve been exploring their musical roots by taking a more traditional bluegrass sound and putting a youthful spin on it.
“We just kind of found each other through the Fredericton music community. We just started off by having fun jams and we were getting a lot of good feedback from close friends and family so we started doing shows around town and we’ve been having a lot of fun with that,” said Bourque.
Knuckles start rapping on the tables, while rings clink down on the hard surface. In the background a whistle from an espresso machine screams during their Roxstone set, but it all fits in with music. Within 15 minutes a mellow sing-along had started.
“It’s been an organic growth, we busked one time at Harvest Jazz and Blues and it was well received. We’re very fortunate that opportunities keep coming our way,” said Scott.
The band officially released their self-titled album at the Wilser’s Room during HJ&B. The ten-track album consists of a mix of sounds which managed to blend into a softer folk vibe.
“We had the album finished for awhile, but had only kind of released it quietly to friends and family. Then the show at the Wilser’s room came up and everything just seemed to fit so, we thought this is where we should launch the album,” said Bourque.
“For a lot of the songs we would take an old idea that never had a spot for them and then with time it developed in a collaboration with lyrics and a melody ” said Scott.
On Oct. 18, the Hobos will be packing up and heading to Saint John for a performance at the Music NB awards.
“This is our biggest opportunity so far and hopefully we’ll continue to get to play venues around Fredericton and get some more festival gigs, that’s our main goal and to have fun with what we’re doing. Fredericton has such a wonderful small community of musicians and it’s really flattering to be a part of it,” said Bourque.
