November 21, 2019 | UHCL Staff
With a father who’s been a professor of music and composition for 35 years, it’s
no wonder that Wallace, Alex, Jason and Zachary DePue all became classically trained
violinists. But growing up in Ohio, bluegrass fiddling became the group’s genre of
choice. The DePue Brothers Band will bring their particular brand of “progressive bluegrass” to celebrate the holidays
at the Bayou Theater at University of Houston-Clear Lake on Wednesday, Dec. 18, at 7:30 p.m.
“We all grew up studying classical violin since we were 5,” said Zachary DePue, who is the former first violinist for The Philadelphia Orchestra and was also the concertmaster for the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra. “But we are four brothers who are all violinists who have taken different paths as musicians and individuals. We studied classical violin in the winter, but in the summer, our father used to take us to play in fiddle contests all through the Midwest, which is rooted in old time bluegrass fiddling.”
Bluegrass became the staple musical genre in which the brothers grew up. “Our music is a melting pot of ideas,” he said. “The instrumentation is bluegrass — fiddles, banjo, flat-top guitar, and bass. It sounds ‘bluegrassy,’ but we take those instruments and do classical pieces. That’s what we call ‘progressive’ bluegrass.”
After both his older brothers had passed the age of 5, DePue said, their dad had them perform in church. “They were so short, the congregation couldn’t see them, so they had to stand up on a bench,” he said. “Suddenly, the air duct started blowing air while they were playing and my brother’s hair blew straight up, but he didn’t miss a beat. The congregation was chuckling, and they were such a success, our father said they should start performing together and started taking them anywhere anyone could listen.”
As the next two brothers reached the age of 5, they also took up the violin. “Our dad didn’t want to buy a whole set of instruments for all of us, so he bought all the stepping stone violins and when one of us outgrew it, the next one got it,” he said. “We all took to it. We saw our older brothers playing the violin and we didn’t question it. We knew we’d all start playing when we turned five.”
He said the DePue Brothers grew up performing music for every occasion all over Ohio, Michigan and Indiana. “We performed 50-60 engagements a year, and it was our opportunity to perform and try the repertoire,” he said.
Since this is a holiday concert, he said, they would be performing songs from their 2014 album, “When It’s Christmastime.”
“For 50 years, our father has been sending out a newly composed Christmas carol as the family Christmas card,” he said. “Each boy has to contribute six lines to say what’s been going on that year. On the other side is a song he’s written. We picked this out of the stack of 50 that he’s written.”
DePue said that he and his brothers have never performed at the Bayou Theater before. “We are brothers, and we feel like we are sharing this music with you from our living room. We hope to take you on an emotional journey through the music,” he said.
Buy tickets for Bayou Theater performances online.
