Eddie From Ohio delivers own brand of folk

Originally published in the January 25, 1996 edition of the Potomac News.

Eddie From Ohio’s sound is hard to describe, even for band members, who call it “acoustic rock” or “new-folk-calypso-grass.”

It might be clearer to say what the Northern Virginia group’s songs consist of — very tight four-part harmony, acoustic instruments, often spare arrangements and narrative lyrics. Think James Taylor (multiplied by four) with a sense of humor.

The songs run the gamut from the occasionally heart-rending to the more-typically whimsical. Eddio From Ohio’s 1993 album “Actually Not” provides good examples of both. “Paradise,” the track that ends the CD, is a post-mortem farewell from a child to her mourning parents. “The Porter’s Tale” tells of a naive Virginia tourist hoodwinked into believing he’s visiting sites from “Gone with the Wind.”

The band’s music almost always features Virginian settings and never shades over into the crybaby schlock so many people associate with folk music.

“I think, at least for my writing, I really kind of just go with the flow, with whatever’s coming out,” said guitarist Robbie Schaeffer, one of Eddie From Ohio’s two songwriters. Schaeffer shares the songwriting chores with guitarist-bassist-harmonicist Mike Clem. Vocalist Julie Murphy and percussionist Eddie Hartness round out the band.

Both Schaeffer and Clem consciously try to write unique songs.

“It’s a tough wire to balance upon,” Schaeffer said. “You want to write things that are universal, that people can relate to, [but] there can only be so many love songs.”

Formed only five years ago, the band is quickly gathering a following: Eddie From Ohio bumperstickers can be spotted onc ars on the Beltway, and sales of the group’s three albums and a solo album by Murphy have been brisk.

“We’ve seen a real jump in sales at record stores,” Schaeffer said. Previously, the band sold nearly all its CDs at shows.

“Outside of [Washington], we’re also getting a little more airplay with our most recent album, ‘I Rode Fido Home,'” Schaeffer said.

In the wake of the multi-platinum success of Hootie and the Blowfish and the Dave Matthews Band and the rising stars of Dillon Fence and the Connells, all of which recently played the same circuit Eddie From Ohio does, the band seems at least as worthy of the big time.

“We’re not quite as accessible, as mainstream as those bands. While we’ve had a lot of success at the college markets, I’m not sure the MTV generation is our audience,” Schaeffer said. “Our demographics tend to be the young professionals. … It remains to be seen if we have that kind of success. I don’t think anybody ever really knows.”

But if multi-platinum albums and superstardom escape Eddie From Ohio, the band wouldn’t necessarily miss them.

“Ultimately, we’re not shooting for that kind of thing. Our goal is to build a steady, solid, loyal audience, which is what we’re doing. If it reaches that kind of scale, wonderful.”

But what’s more important, according to Schaeffer: “We want to be around for a while.”

Its regular Tuesday night gig at Bad Habits in Arlington averages several hundred audience members each week, and Eddie From Ohio appears at such high-profile venues as The Barns of Wolf Trap and New York City’s legendary Bottom Line. But the band still plays small bars and frat houses from Colorado to Georgia to Boston.

“Each seperate area has its own life as far as growing an audience,” Schaeffer said. The key to expanding audiences in North Carolina, for instance, is the college market.

“Plus, fraternities pay well, and it’s a guaranteed audience. We enjoy most of those kinds of audiences. It’s also fun to get your ya-yas out at a fraternity party, as well.”

Last, but not least: No one, not even percussionist Eddie Hartness, is from Ohio. It’s a college nickname given him by an ex-girlfriend at James Madison University, and was used as the band name on a lark by the newly formed group.

A note on Schaeffer’s comment about the Virginia/Maryland/Carolina fraternity house circuit: Hootie and the Blowfish played my fraternity house at Virginia Tech in the spring of 1992. I have no idea how they were — other than expensive — because I had a semi-formal for my girlfriend’s sorority that night. We also had Dillon Fence once and I believe the Connells the year after I graduated.