Before even being old enough to get their driver’s licenses, four young musicians from the Birchdale area have recorded and released an album.
The band Ditchgrade is made up of Holger Olesen, 12; Sofia Olesen, 15; Maria Lewis, 16; and Gary Hultman, 17. The group plays stringed acoustic instruments in bluegrass, country and folk music styles.
The group will perform some of their songs free of charge at the Coffee Landing from 11 a.m. to noon Saturday.
“We’re excited to come to the Falls and play for people that might have never heard us,” Sofia said.
The band has been together for a year and a half, however, Sofia, Holger and Hultman have played together for seven to eight years along with members of their family in the Sloughgrass Band.
The teens decided to form their own band to see what they could do by themselves and try more modern music.
“We’re so used to playing with our parents, that it is fun to see what we can do by ourselves,” Hultman said.
Each of the four teens share the spotlight, however, Hultman points a finger at Holger for bringing in a large female crowd because of his resemblance to the teen singing sensation Justin Bieber.
“Holger is our little superstar,” Hultman said with a laugh.
“I have girls that want their picture taken with me,” a cherry-cheeked Holger admitted.
When determining the roles the rest of the band plays, Lewis noted Sofia is the one who motivates the bunch.
“Sofia tries to get everyone going,” Lewis said. “She knows how to get us back on track.”
“Gary likes to play a lot of random stuff. We’ll be done playing and Gary will just be strumming out something totally different but it’s usually pretty sweet,” Holger said. “He finds a lot of our songs, too.”
“Maria is our support,” Sofia said.
“She’s our x-factor,” Hultman added of Lewis.
All in all, the band agrees it’s goal is to have a good time and learn from each other.
Ditchgrade’s first self-titled album was released in May and its members explained they enjoyed the recording process.
“It was so cool,” Sofia said.
“It was a lot different to be a part of it,” Lewis added.
Hultman credited Soren Olesen — Holger and Sofia’s father and a member of Sloughgrass — for taking the reins of the band’s advertising.
“He made a website, he had shirts made, he went above and beyond,” Hultman said.
The group joked that there is a little bit of controversy on the meaning of their band name.
“Our mom throwing stuff out there and she suggested Ditchgrade,” Holger said.
“Soren said it was because they ditched Sloughgrass,” Lewis said with a smirk.
The teens explained that they have a lot of friends who don’t always like bluegrass music, however, once Sofia, Holger, Hultman, or Lewis introduce them to some of the more modern songs, their friends come around.
“You can do a lot with the style,” Hultman said of bluegrass. “You just gotta play with it.”
As far as future plans go for the band, Hultman is preparing for his first year of college next year and the rest of the group is unsure of what is to come.
“We’ll probably always fall back on (Ditchgrade),” Hultman said. “I definitely see this band as a stepping stone for all of us.”
Holger concluded, “In some way, we will all always be doing something with music.”
Ditchgrade’s album can be purchased for $10 from www.ditchgrade.com, the Y-Knot, The Nelson Store in Birchdale or by contacting one of the members at 218-634-2800.
Ditchgrade can also be found on Facebook.
