State Birds Perform at the Pocahontas Opera House March 15th
Saturday, March 15th is the second WV Mountain State Maple Day for 2025. Sugar camps, local vendors and local restaurants will celebrate with specials and plenty of WV Maple Syrup. Adding to the sweetness of the day is a concert at the Pocahontas Opera House Saturday night featuring the State Birds, a group of very talented multi-instrumentalists. Fiddler Tessa McCoy tells us more about the group.
“The State Birds is really a group of friends that have been playing together causally for a long time that decided to start playing some random shows together,” says Tessa, “that morphed into actually this is really, really great, we should actually do this.”
And this is not their only musical commitment.
“It’s a bit of a hobby band for all of us, we all play in other bands,” says Tessa. “This is our feel-good band. It’s really a group of really talented tradition-bearers that have all been in their own rites and communities and whatnot deemed torch-bearers for old-time music that have decided to get together and play some music together.”
In addition to Tessa on fiddle, the group includes her husband Chance on mandolin, Cody Jordan on banjo, Jesse Milnes on guitar and Joanna Burt-Kinderman on bass. I’d like to tell where the band name comes from, but both Tessa and Joanna were a bit cagey about the topic.
“That’s a really good question that we like to talk about after our shows sometimes if people want to come ask us about a good dirty joke,” says Tessa.
Joanna’s answer is also somewhat vague.
“I think it’s the gentlest form of a mud puddle humor, she says. “The name has more than one meaning, I would definitely think it’s funny that we all do come from different places, so we get together to play. It’s also a nod to all the wonderful things you learn from hanging out with the people who played the music in the generation before you.”
“I think that’s one thing that all five of us hold really dear, we’ve all been very lucky. When you play music with those folks you get a sense of the music, but you also get a lot more culture, a lot of your favorite jokes…yeah, I think I’d leave it to Tessa and Cody to tell that story.”
So, there you have it, you’ll have to go to the show if you want find out the origins of the band’s name.
Tessa says they don’t really have a set schedule, especially with the demands of the other groups that they play with, but they are always eager for the opportunity to play together.
“A lot of times it’s when the ray of sunshine shines through the cloud and we’re all free on the same day, and we’re not playing other shows that the stars align and we get to make some pretty magical music together,” says Tessa. “It happens more often that you would think; we’ve played quite a few shows this spring and this winter. We’ve got one single out and we’ve got three more in the que to get out this spring, summer and whatnot.”
Music interlude – The State Birds playing West Virginia Hornpipe
”Everybody in this band could be leading the band itself,” says Tessa. “I think that’s a really special thing about this, but to have such a super group of folks that have individually spent so much time being a part of their local scene, then they get to come together to in a way represent the West Virginia old-time music scene. It’s a really special wave that I get to ride when playing fiddle with this band.”
You can hear the special blend of old-time musical artistry that is the State Birds on Saturday, March 15th at the Pocahontas Opera House at 7pm. Tickets are available for a $10.00 donation for adults and those aged 17 and under can attend for free. They are available at the 4th Avenue Gallery in Marlinton, at the Opera House Saturday night or online at www.pocahontasoperahouse.org.
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