2017 catalog

43
FEATURED MUSICIAN
Band from left to right:
Savannah Finch, Tim
Finch, Jon Glik, Stefan
Custodi
The Eastman String Band
Getting personal
Tim Finch knows his bluegrass. He knows the sound and the
songbook, the lore and the legends. His appreciation for the music,
in fact, is what keeps pushing him for something a little different
— namely, for something of his own.
Officially, his band is called Tim and Savannah Finch with The
Eastman String Band. Based outside Annapolis, MD, they formed
just under a decade ago, with the goal of forging fresh territory on
an “Alt’grass Americana” frontier. It also meant writing and
performing original songs — which, as he put it, was something of
a “gamble.” After all, live bluegrass audiences frequently expect
— even demand — to hear the standards.
The result of Finch and his band mates’ focused musical
exploration is two all-original albums, with a third in the works,
driven by wife and lead singer Savannah’s “very personal” lyrics,
which grapple with life and death, family and relationships. He’s
proud of their growing catalogue, prouder still that this music
comes from within. “I love the traditional songs,” he says, “but I’m
passionate about exploring original material and new
arrangements.”
Finch is hardly a product of Appalachia. He grew up in the ‘70s in a
suburb outside of Washington, D.C., in a time and place surging
with the energy of a neo-bluegrass movement. Inspired by the likes
of Earl Scruggs and The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, he picked up the
banjo as a teenager and never stopped playing. His passion led him
first to form a group with his brothers, then on to gigs at major
venues with The Good Deale Bluegrass Band that included Jon Glik
on fiddle, Mike Munford on banjo, and the legendary Mike
Auldridge on resonator guitar.
Along the way, he met his wife Savannah who walked into a music
store he was just opening. The two found instant musical common
ground, playing together at the Friday night jams that Tim held at
his store. Eventually the fuller band emerged with both at the front
where they began performing at various private events, major
venues, and festivals.
And as for his choice of the band’s name? He reaches out beyond
his own creative efforts. Finch works as a sales rep for Eastman —
a job that keeps him on the road, and in contact with other
musicians, constantly. He’d named his first band after his music
shop “Good Deale Bluegrass,” and so when it came time to find a
name for his new configuration, as he puts it: “I figured, I’d stick
with the same formula and name it after where I work.”
Indeed, his own form of tradition is something that the
irrepressible Finch can very much get behind.
www.eastmanstringband.com