Hawktail
String Driven Adventures
Those well-known words written by poet Robert Frost from “The Road Not Taken” could have been written with the group Hawktail in mind. Listening to their music you quickly realize without question they chose the road less traveled. Hawktail is a musical quartet that has been called a supergroup, and after you read about their backgrounds and give their music a listen…you just might agree. The members are Brittany Haas (fiddle), Paul Kowert (bass), Dominick Leslie (mandolin) and Jordan Tice (guitar). The type of music they play has been called “new acoustic music,” “progressive acoustic,” or “chamber grass” among other things.
Hawktail are explorers of sonic soundscapes continuing the journey of such acts as The David Grisman Quintet—that fused bluegrass, folk and jazz into something he coined “Dawg music,”—The Tony Rice Unit, Strength in Numbers, Béla Fleck, Edgar Meyer, Mark O’Connor, Jerry Douglas, Chris Thile, Mike Marshall, and Darol Anger. Along the way they have pushed the boundaries of instrumental acoustic music by incorporating influences from World music, African music, Appalachian and Celtic music and Jazz. Hawktail has added Swedish music to the list of influences, and it appears in many of their original compositions.
The members of Hawktail all started their musical journey at a young age and each of them immersed themselves in learning their instrument and perfecting their skills. Brittany Haas is widely acclaimed as one of the best fiddlers of her generation. Brittany is from California and is the younger sister of well-known cellist Natalie. She began playing violin at age four using the Suzuki method and when she was eight her teacher gave her some fiddle tunes to learn, and it was game on. Her mother started looking for someone in the local area that could teach fiddle and found Jack Tuttle, a fixture in the bluegrass scene in the bay area…and yes, the father of none other than Molly Tuttle, teaching at Gryphon Stringed Instruments in Palo Alto.
Brittany went through a bluegrass phase, learning Kenny Baker tunes along with the rest of the bluegrass canon. Next, she moved on to old time music when she heard Bruce Molsky play and fell under his spell. Not only did she work at learning old time fiddle, but she also began playing clawhammer banjo. Brittany credits the Valley of the Moon Scottish fiddle camp run by the well-known Scottish fiddler Alasdair Frasier for really opening her eyes and ears to the possibilities of the fiddle. When Brittany was in high school, she released her first album and was hired by Darol Anger, a founding member of the David Grisman Quintet, to be in a band called Republic of Strings with Scott Nygaard on guitar, Rushad Eggleston on cello, and Darol and Brittany on fiddles. She cites Darol as a major influence that taught her how to be in a band and what it means to be a professional musician.
After high school Brittany headed to college at Princeton and majored in evolutionary biology and minored in music. In her junior year at Princeton the opportunity came to join the popular non-traditional bluegrass group Crooked Still. She stayed with that group and recorded four albums until the band announced they were taking a hiatus to catch their breadth and allow members to pursue other musical projects. Brittany was a member of Chris Thile’s house band for Minnesota Public Radio’s popular program Live From Here. Additionally, she was selected as an artist in residence for East Tennessee State University’s highly regarded Bluegrass, Old-Time and Country Music Program for the 2021-2022 academic year.
Paul Kowert hails from Wisconsin and come from a musical family. He started playing music in church (starting with violin) and when he was nine he switched to playing bass. He took to it immediately and liked the social aspect of it. He began playing with guitar players and in a rock band and jazz combo. He focused primarily on bass, but still played violin occasionally. Paul was exposed to bluegrass music at 15 when a bluegrass band played at his school. That experience prompted him to pickup mandolin, and he became involved with the local bluegrass scene. Paul credits Cousin Jake, one of the Foggy Mountain Boys, and Roy Husky Jr. as bluegrass bass influences.
While in high school, Paul discovered the iconic bass player Edgar Meyer. He spent countless hours listening, watching YouTube videos and transcribing his work. Paul went on to study with him at the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia. Edgar’s influence is profound in Paul’s approach to playing, writing and arranging. Paul adopted Edgar’s tuning (E,B,E,A)…low string to high string…which is a hybrid of orchestral tuning (E,A,D,G) and solo tuning (F#,B,E,A). Paul says the tuning facilitates the ability of the bass to cut through the sound of an ensemble thus making melodic lines more pronounced. Another aspect of Edgar’s playing that Paul incorporated into his playing is using the bow. However, Paul’s bow work also incorporates the influence of fiddlers such as John Hartford and Tommy Jarrell.
In Paul’s senior year at Curtis Institute of Music he received a call from Chris Thile and asked if he would be interested in joining the Punch Brothers. Paul was a big fan of their music and went to New York to meet and audition with the band. He officially joined the Punch upon graduation in 2009 and 13 years and five albums later the group is still captivating audiences wherever they play. Paul also was a member of the house band for the radio program Live From Here. Paul also teamed up with Brittany to play with David Rawlings for a number of years.
Jordan Tice is from Maryland and both his parents played bluegrass music. His mother, Sue Raines, performed with Buffalo Gals, one of the first all-female bluegrass groups. Initially Jordan, as young people are apt to do, did not identify with the music his parents were in to. He started out playing rock guitar and then moved on to classical and jazz guitar. Along the way he began to appreciate bluegrass and cites Tony Rice, Doc Watson and Norman Blake as influences. Jordan went on to earn a degree in music and composition from
Towson University. He has released five solo albums since 2005 with the first three being all instrumentals of original compositions. He is also an accomplished singer-songwriter, and his last two albums feature him singing and playing his songs. His latest release is called Motivational Speakeasy and was released on Padiddle Records, a label founded by Paul Kowert.
If you want hot flatpicking, bluesy fingerpicking or delicately fingerpicked melodies…Jordan has you covered. In addition to bringing his noteworthy talents to his solo work, he formed the Jordan Tice Trio along with Wes Corbett on banjo and Simon Chrisman on hammered dulcimer. He played guitar on The John Hartford Fiddle Tune Project, Vol 1, which was nominated in 2021 for a Grammy in the bluegrass category. Additionally, Jordan has played on records by various artists including Adam Hurt and David Rawlings Machine. His playing has been heard at top festivals such as Telluride, Grey Fox, Strawberry Music Festival, ROMP and Rocky Grass. Jordan is the complete package…guitar player, singer-songwriter and instrumental composer.
Dominick Leslie is originally from Colorado. His musical path, like the other members of Hawktail, began early. He began playing ukulele around the age of four and transitioned to guitar when he became big enough hold one. When he was eleven he took over his father’s mandolin and has never looked back. He grew up around bluegrass and festival life. His father was his first teacher and Dominick credits him for being a task master about his rhythm playing. Dominick cites his mandolin influences as many but calls out David Grisman, Sam Bush and especially credits Chris Thile, who he saw with Nickel Creek at the Aspen Jazz Festival, for pouring gasoline on his already hot burning mandolin flame.
His first experience playing in a group came with his family band 60 Miles An Hour, but Dominick amusingly said they changed the name to 75 Miles An Hour because it was faster. He also played in Long Road Home with banjo player Pete Wernick. In 2004 Dominick became the youngest player to ever win the mandolin contest at Rockygrass…he was 14. He went on to release his debut solo album Signs of Courage in 2005. In 2008 Dominick enrolled in the Berklee School of Music. He spent two years at Berklee immersed in a curriculum that greatly expanded his musical horizons. Dominick noted that the education he received outside the classroom in the local music venues, filled with top notch musicians playing music of all styles, was invaluable to his growth as a musician. While at Berklee, he became of member of Missy Raines & The New Hip and learned the ropes of being a professional. He left Missy Raines group to join the newgrass band The Deadly Gentlemen. In 2014 Dominick won the IBMA’s Mandolin Momentum Award. He currently holding down mandolin duties with Molly Tuttle and Golden Highway.
Before Hawktail there was Haas Kowert Tice. The trio of friends knew each other from festivals. They were in college at the same time, Brittany at Princeton, Paul at Curtis and Jordan at Towson, and would get together on weekends whenever possible to play music and it quickly became apparent that they had something special going on. What started out as just getting together for fun evolved into recording the widely acclaimed album You Got This in 2013. The album was a harbinger of what was to come. The trio continued to play together whenever their schedules permitted and continued to explore original material and to hone their sound.
They concluded that to fully realize their musical vision that they needed to add another instrument to the mix. They played a series of shows at Nashville’s famous Station Inn with a variety of guest musicians sitting in. One of the people sitting in was none other than Sam Bush. The trio all knew Dominick and liked the sound they made when they played together and knew he would help them make the kind of music they were aiming for moving forward.
Dominick officially joined them in 2017 and the trio became a quartet and the name Hass Kowert Tice Leslie used initials from their names to become Hawktail. They released their first album Unless in 2018. It borrowed from the Haas Kowert Tice album; they ended up recording Unless three times…the last time was with Dominick onboard. The group’s love of Swedish music is obvious on this recording and that influence is evident in all their recordings. They are quick to cite the Swedish group Väsen as one of the Swedish performers they admire.
The second album release was Formations in 2020 and shows the group continuing its exploration of the possibilities of string band music. There is more space for improvisation
and playfulness. The effort is brimming with beautiful melodies, interplay and textures. Formations is the first album conceived from the ground up with mandolin in mind and Dominick’s strong sense of rhythm is felt throughout the recording bringing an added cohesiveness to the music.
Hawktail’s latest release is called Place of Growth and was released in August of this year. Paul describes the album as a tune-cycle and it is the groups most conceptual album to date. It was written and presented as a work to be listened to in one sitting. Clocking in at a little over 28 minutes, the songs fit together much like puzzle pieces and lead you on an intimate adventure. This album allows each of the members more space to stretch out and express themselves and the ebb and flow of the music is hypnotic.
One unique aspect about Hawktail is that it is just one of the musical outlets the members have. They all have moved to Nashville and are busy with a variety of endeavors. They are quick to emphasize that Hawktail holds a very special place for them, and the fact that it is not their sole focus helps keep them excited about getting together and serves to help keep the music fresh. Listening to Hawktail’s music is like ease dropping on a conversation between old friends. The chemistry and love of playing music together jumps out of the speakers from the very first notes you hear. The high degree of musicianship coupled with memorable original compositions make Hawktail must hear music. Although it may not be bluegrass, the members of the group acknowledge their love of it, and readily pay homage to it. Listening to their music one quickly realizes what Hawktail and bluegrass have in common …music that floats like a butterfly and stings like a bee.
