The Eclectic Acoustic Band Chesapeake Is Breaking New Ground In American Music. By Pam Parrish SOMETIMES MAGIC HAPPENS. We tend to forget that as we leave childhood, when life often seems anything but. So it's a delight to hear that magic can still shower its blessings. To hear T. Michael Coleman tell it, that's exactly what has happened with the eclectic acoustic band Chesapeake. "Mike Auldridge has said this many times: This is the band he's been waiting for all his life," Coleman said the other day. "And I think that's the way all of us feel." To gauge the impact of that statement, it helps to know that Dobro master Auldridge has spent the past 25 years with the influential progressive-Bluegrass band the Seldom Scene, while putting out a fistful of acclaimed solo albums. And that bassist Coleman has played with Johnny Cash, Doc Watson (for 15 years) and the Seldom Scene. And that mandolinist Jimmy Gaudreau has graced such groundbreaking groups as the Tony Rice Unit. Lead singer/guitarist Moondi Klein, a relative newcomer whose voice has been compared to that of Newgrass Revival's John Cowan, has a background in opera and also was a member of the Scene. We're not exactly talking cover bands here. The band they've been waiting for all their lives is a bluegrass-based, boundary-busting supergroup whose style is an electrifying mix of spirited vocals, instrumental virtuosity and unexpected musical touches. Their two albums, Rising Tide and Full Sail, feature uniquely rendered classics such as "Black Jack Davey," "Darcy Farrow" and "Last Train From Poor Valley"; a jazzy, haunting "Columbus Stockade Blues"; and playful, funky workouts like "Crawfishin' " and Little Feat's "Let It Roll," as well as a handful of originals. The various styles are pulled together by the group's lovely four-part harmonies and superb instrumental work. Full Sail, released last year, spent more than a month in the Americana Top 10, reaching No. 3--even before the record company began its promotional push. "Americana deejays just started playing it anyway," Coleman said. "I think Bruce Springsteen at that time was No. 11." No smugness here; Coleman sounds almost awed, as he does when he talks about the band's evolution into a musical force to be reckoned with. Chesapeake, which will perform Friday in Tucson, grew out of the boredom of Bluegrass musicians who mostly played summer festivals. A few winters ago, Gaudreau suggested they get together, just for fun. "Once we got in Mike Auldridge's basement, whatever music came out, came out," Coleman said. They began playing in a Maryland club "just to keep ourselves busy. And what had started just as a lark started catching on." It's still mostly for fun. The foursome's mutual enjoyment and inspiration are evident even on CD. "This is the most creative bunch of guys I've ever worked with," Coleman said. "It's a lot of fun, and it's extremely fulfilling. There are no boundaries--no one says you can't do that or you should do this. All the influences all of us have had throughout our careers, they just naturally came out." The members of Chesapeake enjoy playing together so much, Coleman added with a laugh, that "it's sometimes hard to get us off stage." Chesapeake's success meant breaking ties with their longtime cohorts in January, which was "like jumping off the high board," Coleman said. (The Seldom Scene brought in three new members, including former Johnson Mountain Boy Dudley Connell.) Having a fan base from those groups didn't mean automatic acceptance. "You still have to prove yourself," Coleman said. "We've been extremely lucky that we've been accepted.... To be such a young band that's basically only been a fulltime band since January, we've been very busy. For the first part of the year I was busier than I've ever been." Even traditional bluegrass fans, a notoriously hidebound group, have embraced Chesapeake. "We've had far more acceptance than we ever thought we would get in the traditional bluegrass market," Coleman said. "I think maybe the Bluegrass market was getting a little set in its ways and people started wanting more. When a lot of bands left, like Newgrass Revival and Hot Rize, it left a large gap, and it left a lot of fans without someone to follow. And it just makes the festivals a lot more interesting when you have many different kinds of acoustic music that's bluegrass-based." A large part of keeping Chesapeake's magic alive, Coleman said, depends on intriguing their audience. "I think people expect us to put a new slant on older material--we'll probably do a couple of those on the next (CD). But we also want to put some songs out there that people haven't heard. "We want, when you put on our third CD, that you don't know exactly what to expect," Coleman said. "You still hear the thread through the music, but maybe it's grown a little bit." (They're in the material-gathering stage for that release now.) They're now enjoying sharing their music with audiences who know them only from their previous groups. "They show up with one ear perked up, going, 'Show me what you can do.' And that's the fun part. To see Mike Auldridge play the lap steel on a Little Feat tune is worth the price of a ticket. "To be in a band that has a common goal--to make good music--and to be told by listeners that not only is it musically pleasing, but they feel their souls there," Coleman said, "you've done everything you wanted to do." Chesapeake performs at 8 p.m. Friday, May 24, at the ASDB Berger Performing Arts Center, 1200 W. Speedway. General admission tickets are $12, $11 for members of TFTM, TKMA, DBA and KXCI; and $8 for seniors and students. They're available in advance from Hear's Music, Loco Records, The Folk Shop, Mars Hall Records, Workshop Music and Piney Hollow. Any remaining tickets will cost $2 more at the door.

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