BELLOWS FALLS — Stone Church Arts brings Pete's Posse, a roots trio to heat up a winter's eve at the stone church on 20 Church St., on Saturday, Feb. 28, at 7:30 p.m.
Dillon Walsh of The Vermont Standard wrote, “For three people who initially weren't going to become a band, some things, like their chemistry together, were meant to be.”
Pete's Posse is composed of Pete Sutherland (fiddle, piano, banjo and vocals), Oliver Scanlon (fiddle, mandolin, dobro, foot percussion and vocals) and Tristan Henderson (guitars, mandolin, jaw harp, bodhran, foot percussion and vocals).
Sutherland, a well-known multi-instrumentalist and troubadour, has decades of concert touring, teaching and studio production behind him. His all-Vermont “posse” includes his young fiddle protégé - and fellow member of the contradance band the Clayfoot Strutters - Oliver Scanlon, and the accompanist Tristan Henderson, also of Atlantic Crossing and Pipers Den.
Featuring Sutherland's rootsy songs, the band's original and traditional fiddle music, and a few unique covers, this band provides a fine opportunity for an intimate listen to an ever-evolving musical friendship that spans generations.
Quickly becoming a sought-after accompanist, session musician, and performer in Vermont, Henderson grew up playing a variety of music genres before jumping into traditional music. He acquired his ability to play anything with stings (and a few without) as a teenager at a weekly blues/country/folk music session near his family home in Pomfret.
He was a 2013 winner of the Young Tradition Vermont talent contest with bagpiper Hazen Metro and in addition to Pete's Posse, he also performs with Atlantic Crossing and Pipers Den.
With early training in viola, which led him to a stint with the Vermont Youth Orchestra, Scanlon, a fiddler, mandolinist, and tunesmith, was introduced to his mentor Sutherland and the parallel universe of fiddle music at the age of 9.
In 2008, Scanlon and a few middle school friends formed a group that eventually became The Irregulars, a six-piece outfit that has played scored of local dances and festivals.
In 2013, he both co-founded the Posse and became the youngest member of Sutherland's long-running dance band The Clayfoot Strutters.
A recent high school graduate, Scanlon's senior project was a solo CD, “The Pond Jam.”