by mel minter
ABQ’S THRIVING LOCAL MUSIC SCENE
FINDING THE SWEET SPOT SERIOUS FIDDLING AROUND AT A YOUNG AGE LED TO A LIFETIME OF SWEET MUSIC
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Much-in-demand fiddling phenom Emily Anslover is one of those musicians who can make any project sound better.
practicing more than ever. They are not skipping lessons—there’s nothing else going on.” Her student band, Cactus Flowers—“I love Cactus Flowers. They’re such a joy,” says Anslover with a giggle— got started three or four years ago at the offhand suggestion of a student. With a repertoire that stretches from pop to bluegrass to country to soul, they’ve played at numerous venues around town. Though she’s been in bands all her life, it’s the first time Anslover has managed a band and, because the kids play multiple instruments, the first time she’s had to write multiple parts. Anslover has played all over town and beyond with the alt-bluegrass Silver String Band, which came together back in 2015 shortly after she stopped her car, grabbed her fiddle, and joined a couple of buskers—Lars Fabricius-Olsen and Paul Hunton—on Central Avenue. For the last three years, she’s teamed up with her good friend country artist Tylor Brandon and
has been on the road with his band, which also includes guitarist Joshue Lee, bassist Edgar Wonder, and drummer Braden Anderson, almost every weekend. Right now, the band is doing Facebook Live performances on Wednesday evenings. You can also hear Anslover on the recordings of a number of local musicians, most recently on Kyle Martin’s Raunchytonk album, where she lays down some hair-raising lines. “I’d like to get my feet more in the world of session musician,” she says. She’s quite content being a member of a band and not really interested in fronting one. “It’s never really been my vision,” says Anslover. Growing up listening to country music and watching country music bands, she says, “I feel like I always saw the fiddler on the stage, and I said, ‘that’s what I want to do, that’s what I want to be.’ I believe that every part of the band is equally important.” You can reach Anslover via her FaceWWW.ABQTHEMAG.COM | JULY 2020
COURTESEY PHOTOS
hen fiddler Emily Anslover is not pract ic ing , she’s performing, and when she’s not performing, she’s teaching in her private studio. When she’s not practicing, performing, or teaching, she relaxes by playing her guitar and singing her original songs. You could say she found her sweet spot early: her dad, who plays guitar and banjo (“My mom plays the video camera,” says Anslover), got her into classical violin lessons at age four, and Anslover never looked back. “I was brought up around music, and I always enjoyed that from a young age,” she says. She got lessons from her uncle, a fiddler, whenever she visited him in Ohio, and by age six, she was playing on stage with his band during her visits. At age eight, she started playing with her brother, John, and sister, Amy, in the Anslover Family Band. “My parents got me in fiddle contests from a young age,” says Anslover, noting that they drove her to different cities and states to compete. Fiddle teacher Gretchen Van Houten deepened her knowledge and skill in her teen years. In high school and college, she played in the Albuquerque Youth Symphony Program and the UNM Symphony Orchestra. (At UNM, she completed the course in string pedagogy under Susan Kempter.) While still in high school, Anslover placed fourth at the prestigious Walnut Valley Festival, and she held the New Mexico State Champion title for four years while in her teens. Teaching has her focus lately, given the coronavirus situation. “It’s so impressive to me that these kids are thriving during these times,” says Anslover. “They are