Fervor Coulee Bluegrass Blog

Rick Spinney Interview, Blueberry Music Festival, 2024 08 03

Donald Teplyske  |  August 15, 2024

By Donald Teplyske

The Spinney Brothers are likely the most successful bluegrass band to have emerged from Canada. They have had numerous hit songs and albums on the bluegrass charts, and have played most of the large (and small) festivals and venues across America and Canada.

As part of Blueberry Music Festival (held annually in Stony Plain, Alberta and 2019 and 2021 International Bluegrass Music Association Event of the Year) I was asked to host a Sunday morning 'coffee chat' feature for patrons of the festival called Blueberry Today.

During one of their performances at the festival while introducing "Proud to Be Your Dad," Rick Spinney spoke in a heartfelt, honest manner about his family and his wife Machaela's struggles with mental health prior to her death in 2021.

With The Spinney Brothers returning to the bluegrass road, it was wonderful to have a timely conversation with Rick.

Donald Teplyske: You are celebrating thirty-five years as a bluegrass band. What has changed for you as a band and what has stayed the same?

Rick Spinney: As we look back on the thirty-five years and how we started, as we evolved into a full-time bluegrass band, we gained an understanding as we would see the American bands, and think "How do they play so good?" They were always so solid. We had a lot of great Canadian bands, great Maritime bands, but there was something that just wasn't there.

Once we started playing full-time and recognized when you are playing day-after-day on stage in a band situation you get to the point where you are so comfortable playing, the nerves are completely gone. It becomes a very relaxed state and you are able to get to another level of performance that we just couldn't find until we went on the road full-time.

DT: Nothing beats being out there- you can woodshed a lot, but...

RS: Yes. You get a chance to really hone your craft and you don't necessarily realize how comfortable you are becoming in your performances.

DT: It has been mentioned this weekend by many here at the festival that the performances we are witnessing from the Spinney Brothers are the best they've ever seen from you. You are right 'there,' right now.

RS: I attribute that to the fans. When you get on the stage and you are feeling the energy of the fans, it just happens. When you feel so good and appreciated, your performance level just rises. We get it from the audience.

DT: Please, correct me if I am wrong. I've always felt The Spinney Brothers have favored Louvin-style, country music harmony vocals more than going for the three- and four-part harmonies that might come out of a Quicksilver or IIIrd Tyme Out. What made you feel that was the right decision for the band?

RS: Yes, that's right. I think part of it was we didn't have the voices in the group, the vocal strength, to carry that (approach.) But for Allan and I, because we started as a brother duet and the harmonies just feel so good—we recognized early on that the people still want to hear that sound.

When we first got on the circuit, we became friends with The Gibson Brothers and as we grew and as we watched them, we realized people love that brother duet sound. It just feels so good when can hear that third harmony in there when it is just the two of you, it is something special. And I think as brothers, for me anyway, when you can have that with your brother...it is irreplaceable.

DT: Last night, you spoke honestly from the stage with great heart about the band going on hiatus in 2017, about raising a child who isn't your natural born son, about mental health and your wife passing away...I'm not going to start bawling again—yes, I am...I appreciated your honesty so much speaking about those issues and working through your own trauma.

RS: This is a family. The bluegrass circle is a major part of what we have been for thirty-five years. You've all supported us...but it is a tough road. When you are out there one the road, doing what you love to do—that's where the title song of Living the Dream came from. It's a true story.

Wherever we go, people would say, 'Isn't it great, you're living the dream.' And you are, you are living something that you live and breathe daily. My brother and I for so many years we played music until we had to go to work, we would sing together and tour.

But there is a lot of sacrifices you make when you are making those choices. Those are sacrifices the whole band felt, and me in particular. At the time, I was the only one who had kids at home.

I remember, and I'm going to start crying too. The definitive moment came for me when my youngest son was three years old. We'd get up in the morning to leave for a show—three or four in the morning to get there—and he would come out dragging his little blue blanket behind him. I'd give him a hug like I always did and send him back to his room, and as I close the door behind me, I could hear him screaming and crying, "Daddy, please don't go."

You can have a dream and you can live that dream, but more importantly, I wanted to be the father who could be at home, who could take him to his hockey games and I knew at that point—this was a couple years before we got off the road—that my time as a full-time touring musician was coming to an end. It was more important for me to be a family man and a father and I would have to find a way to fit my music in there as well.

I have two wonderful boys (Keegan and Kacey.) We spoke about mental illness, and unfortunately my wife suffered with mental illness for the twenty years we were together. And sometimes you just can't get past those demons. But there is always help, and if we talk about it, and talk about her and her memory—she was a wonderful, wonderful person. She had the most beautiful voice, she released some albums...she had a vibrant personality. And for a lot of people it was a shock she died because you can't always recognize the darkness that happens with some people.

After Machaela passed I went to therapy because you're blaming yourself, "What could I have done differently?" In some cases, unfortunately, there is nothing you can do. She had two beautiful boys, and you'd think that would be enough. But there is just something there, and you can't—it just isn't anyone's fault.

But there is help. If we can talk about it, and in this unfortunate case where she passed away, still keep her memory alive...that's important.

And now, as a single dad, you do everything you can to be that most important role model in their lives. And for me, the most important thing, is to be there for both my boys.

DT: You've paid tribute to artists through your music—"I Wish That I Could've Met Carter," "My Music Comes From Bill," "Music of the Mountains" that Russell Sawler wrote. What do those type of songs do for you?

RS: They are so impactful. —"I Wish That I Could've Met Carter," the first time we heard that was at Bean Blossom. Dixie Hall wrote it for little Isaac Moore. Carter died in 1966, and in one of the verses it says, 'We passed going opposite ways' and I was born in '66, so I felt a strong connection to that song.

But really, songs like Russell wrote "Music of the Mountains" it gives us a chance to connect, that you don't need to be from Tennessee or North Carolina to relate to the music and those words that have such strong meaning. My brother and I, we live on a mountain, just a different mountain.

DT: I have one more question, I just can't see it through my tears. Could you share a special memory of someone you've crossed paths with?

RS: Some of the things that have happened to us, we are just so honored to have been accepted south of the [Canadian] border. We've played the big stages, to play at MerleFest and introduce "My Music Comes from Bill" in Raileigh, North Carolina...for me, personally, it was at Wind Gap, Pennsylvania and having the chance to meet Ralph Stanley and take a little buggy ride with him...

I'm lying. That's the second most important. I heard John McEuen talking earlier about Earl Scruggs. In 1996 we were in Owensboro, Kentucky and I got on the elevator and there was Earl and Louise, just standing there. And as a banjo player, I just didn't have the words to express what I wanted to say to him.

"Hi, Earl...I'm a banjo player and I play all your songs." What do you say? He just nodded. That was one of my greatest moments, I got a chance to have him sign my banjo—I got to meet my idol, a legend.

(Speaking to the audience listening) I appreciate the support you have given us, allowing us to continue living the dream of playing live music, sharing our stories with you and accepting us as people and as musicians.

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Rick Spinney, through his music and his honesty, continues to gain admirers within our bluegrass world.