Nestled amongst the traditional agriculture and rolling hills of Fauquier County, the quantity and diversity of the local music scene is stunning. Just by attending a small concert, such as the one held at Smokie Joe’s on February 6, the talent and distinctive sounds of small-town Virginian bands are apparent.

            One of the first bands to grace the night was Pollock (“pah-luck”), whose opening number included the bassist, David Gross on saxophone as the band jammed with FHS 2008 alum Tim Wyld. In the middle of one song, the guitarist Jesse Trask began banging a drumstick against an autoharp.

             “I did it on accident at first in the studio, but we kept it,” Trask said.

             Later in the set, Gross pulled a Paige and began using a bow on his bass guitar. Pollock ended its portion of the show with “Birthday” by the Beatles, the band they named as one of their influences. The high energy of the group and their music transferred to the audience members, who danced through the whole set; a first for the band.

            “We just want to know people are having as much fun as us,” Trask said. “We like a big, active crowd.”

             The four guys have been together for a year; some members have been jamming together for as long as six years. Singer/guitarist Terry Steffens had been writing his own music, and then took the chance to form a band when another group he knew fell apart. Pollock will soon release their debut album, Ghost.

“My songs became our songs,” Steffens said.

                        Next in the lineup was FHS 2006 alum Alex Gable, whose mellow sound contrasted with the intensity of Pollock. Despite a much softer approach to his music, his performance was captivating. The simplicity of his blue tee shirt, jeans, and sneakers, along with the green plastic binder from which he sang lyrics contrasted with his music’s mature character. He began his set with an acoustic cover of Erykah Badu’s “Bag Lady” which got the crowd clapping and a few singing along.

            “I have to feel the same way I did when I wrote the song to perform it.” Gable said. “I think about the person who I wrote the song about and the related emotions.”

             He closed his eyes for the majority of his cover of “Be Good or Be Gone” by Fionn Regan, and introduced it as something someone close to him had put on a CD. After a few songs and failed attempts to quiet the rowdy crowd, Gable recited a poem, a descriptive piece full of his emotions and catchy rhymes with a beat that was hypnotic. Trae Sharp, dubbed “Trae Nice,” then joined Gable onstage to surprise the audience and get them bouncing with hip-hop acoustic and rapped lyrics.

            “I was very influenced by old bands when I was in high school…jazz, funk, and rock,” Gable said.

            He plans to attend Berklee to study jazz, but breaking into the music industry is not easy.

             “I spent years writing and showcasing my own original music just to get my foot in the door,” Gable said.

             The newly formed band, A Wall So Tall, was on next, and although it was their first show together, the band members have previous experience. Kettle Run junior Sean Stanton had been the drummer and singer for popular local band The Number Red. Wyld, a guitarist and singer, has played at shows on numerous occasions as a solo act and in bands, one of which included A Wall So Tall’s bassist, FHS 2008 alum Luke Last. All members attended Fauquier High; Last and Wyld graduated last year and are currently studying jazz. The band was clearly focused on the tone and mood of their music, sparsely using lyrics in many songs. Each song flowed into another, not giving the time for applause, but the band did not seem to care much anyway. They each seemed lost within their own song, mesmerized by the music’s captivating melodies.

            “We want to support local music; we want people to see what local shows are about,” Last said. “We want to bring back good music to the area.”

            The end of the show brought a sobering silence from the deafeningly loud speakers. Members of local bands had stayed all night to watch each other, while members of the crowd came and went. Smokie Joe’s was once again a quiet café, until the time the bands would once again take over to fill the empty voids with radiant harmonies.