Missoula folk group makes stop in Hot Springs

HOT SPRINGS – In canoe terminology, to have tumblehome refers to a design that makes paddling the craft easier, due to the flared out sides of the vessel, which deflect water in a more economical way than traditionally designed canoes.

For the band Tumble-home, a quintet out of Missoula, the ability of its members to switch between instruments and seamlessly trade off lead and supporting roles from song to song allows the band to easily cover a wide variety of what is colloquially referred to as folk music.

On Friday night, the five musicians entertained at the Symes Hotel introducing those in attendance to their music.

Tumble-home was brought to the Symes Hotel by the Hot Springs Artist Society, a local groups who finds volunteers from all over western Montana to entertain residents and visitors of Sanders County.

The group is made up of Dan Venturella, Matt Pierce, Taylor Toth-Joesph, Kayla McCormick and Elizabeth Hunter and they brought a variety of musical instruments with them from Missoula.

The band incorporated guitars [acoustic and electric], bass guitars, mandolins, a piano, a trumpet, a tambourine and a unique instrument called the melodica into the evening’s show.

The melodica is basically a hand-held keyboard that acts in the same manner as a harmonica. The mini keyboard is played by blowing into a tube attached to the side of the strange-looking device. The curious piece of equipment quickly drew the audience’s curiosity, prompting a question early in the show, during a break in the music, where band members explained the instrument and its uses.

The instrument produces a sound somewhere between that made by an accordion and a harmonica.

Used for years in Asia and in parts of Italy during the 19th Century, the melodica did not come into use in the United States until the 1950s, and has gained popularity with musicians in various genres.

Toth-Joesph joked that the band started using the instrument so they could have a piano with them when they went camping.

According to Venturella, the outdoors is a big part of what Tumble-hone tries to do as a music group, describing their music as canoe/campfire rock.

This passion for the outdoors is what attracted the band members, some are originally from southern Utah, to Missoula and is why they love getting out of Missoula and playing in venues across western Montana, including the Symes Hotel in Hot Springs.