Exclusive Interview with Alex DePue (Part 4)
What exciting projects have you been working on this year and what can we look forward to hearing from you in 2012?
AD: Well, that's a difficult question as I'm still trying to get past this year! 2011 has been a very exciting year for me. Having released my second formal solo recording, STAGES, I do feel liberated in a way. I was able to create music spontaneously using all of the instruments I've spent a lifetime to learn, including drums, bass, guitars (electric and acoustic), piano, violins (electric and acoustic), and yes... even voice.
2011 also marked my first effort at promoting and acting as Executive Director for our inaugural, "DePue Brothers' International Fiddle Competition" in our hometown of Bowling Green, OH which serves our traditional fiddling fans and the fiddlers themselves with one more opportunity to preserve and appreciate an art form we hold dear to our hearts. I have been a competition fiddler since the age of seven and it was a real eye-opener to see and experience what goes into organizing such an event! Our competition last Sept. 31 - Oct. 1 offered the largest cash payout in the country for traditional American fiddling. Now I'm left to decide whether or not to do that again. It did take years off my life! In an effort to better the fiddling community, we were also able to generate a modest donation as a gift to the Bowling Green City Schools music education programs and we're very happy to have the opportunity to give back to our home town. We (The DePue Brothers) are all graduates of the city's school system and we very much value the education we acquired there.
2012 will continue our quest for musical excellence with two acts in particular. The first is my family, the increasingly popular "DePue Brothers Band". We are beginning to "snow-ball" here in the States and the touring schedule has been and will continue to get more and more extensive. Also in regular rotation is my duo, "DePue/DeHoyos", who offer a whole different sound to the world. A Latin groove (Flamenco guitarist Miguel De Hoyos is native to the country of Mexico) with a very twisted American rock violin. We have two recordings out and will record our third in 2012. I must also get some of these solo arrangements for pop/rock tunes off my brain... probably another solo recording will be born in 2012 as well.
Interview by Lenny Kalcic, Evolution Garden Media © 2011
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