Che Apalache Blends Latin American And Bluegrass Musical Influences

Joe Troop set off on his musical path at the age of 15. On a camping trip, he heard string-band music, and he was bitten by the bluegrass bug. He started banjo lessons in his hometown of Winston-Salem. By the time Troop was in college, he was studying abroad, and found a love for the people and culture of Argentina.

For the past decade he's lived in Buenos Aires, and he's formed a band called Che Apalache, with members from Mexico, the U.S., and Argentina. The group puts a Latin American twist on traditional bluegrass, and they'll be playing at the Blue Ridge Music Center this Saturday.

Joe Troop spoke with WFDD's Eddie Garcia.

Interview Highlights

On how Troop started connecting with music and musicians in Buenos Aires:

I connected with musicians just the way I always do, just kind of poking around looking for people that I thought were cool and trying to become their friends. I mean, it was kind of a daunting task at the beginning because I didn't know anyone. I just showed up at one jam, one thing led to another, and I ended up meeting these guys that I eventually started playing swing fiddle with. I started playing Gypsy jazz down there and I also met this guy named Diego Sanchez. He was the only bluegrass musician at that time in Argentina and we formed a duo and I worked for seven years playing with him. He's an incredible double bassist and banjo player, and that whole time I was training younger musicians. I was living as a teacher, you know, I was teaching bluegrass and old time. And then after doing that for several years, my students, it was clear that they were going to be professional musicians and then, you know, when they got better than me I was like okay, time to start a band with these guys. And that's where Che Apalache was born.

On where the idea of blending Appalachian and Latin music came from:

I felt like it would be cool if Buenos Aires had a bluegrass band. It was a completely unknown music. You know, it's world music down there ... But in 2016 at Galax I was approached by John Lowman of the Virginia Foundation for the Humanities. He just kind of started talking about his interests with the intersectionality of Latin America and Appalachia on a musical level. And I was like, 'Man, that's me, I can maybe help you with that.' So we dug into this concept and we just created our new identity, kind of like a phoenix rising out of the ashes. It was an amazingly creative moment.

On how American audiences respond compared to audiences in Buenos Aires:

Well, it's very different because a lot of the songs are in English, and they respond to those with hoots and hollers. We got up on stage in the States and people were laughing, reacting to certain words, screaming and shouting. I was like, 'Whoa, it's amazing.' But the inverse of that happens in Latin America ... we'll have those kinds of reactions to the lyrics in Spanish. It's interesting, you know, we get to see both sides of the equation. But American audiences are inquisitive; there's a lot of people that love music here. What I most appreciate about being from the States is the amount of dedication that people have to music.

On how audiences react to political references [building a wall along the southern U.S. border] in songs:

...At Galax we had a guy threaten us, and it was not pretty. It was just, you know, just a hothead, but I have no problem saying out loud that I think this whole situation is just a way to exacerbate social, racial and class tensions. It's just kind of a gross thing to watch. ["The Wall" is} not really that political of a song. None of us are politicians. We're just saying, you know, there's such a hatred for Latin Americans that's being fostered through this. People are really missing the point. There should be a message of unity. Latin American culture's awesome. Let's just learn from one another and hang out and be friends because that's a legitimate option. People are people, man. That's all that song really says.