Bluesy, groovy, folksy, clanky and dancy

Husband and wife Morgan Williams and Deborah Colley front the Carbondale band Sweet Jessup and the Dirty Buckets. They will play at the Carbondale Recreation Center starting at 4:30 p.m.

Saturday as part of the 5Point Film Festival. Sweet Jessup and The Dirty Buckets are on a roll. The Carbondale-based sextet is fresh off one of the biggest gigs of its existence.



A two-song EP, called “Muddy Water,” recently was released. And the band has an upcoming slate of gigs all over Colorado that begins at 4:30 p.m.

Saturday at the Carbondale Recreation Center, a event affiliated with this week’s 5Point Film Festival. In addition to the tunes at the rec center, there will be an adventure obstacle course, the chance to meet guest filmmakers and two food trucks operated by Bambu Asian and El Sabor de Mexico. The Dirty Buckets are Morgan Williams (guitar, vocals), Deborah Colley (vocals), Brian Colley (violin, singing saw, tiny piano), Alex Reginelli (percussion), Ashton Taufer (bass) and Brad Swart (cornet).

The band describes its music as “bluesy, groovy, folksy, clanky and dancy.” It also draws inspiration from ragtime. The band plays all original, upbeat music.

Their songs are distinguished by unique arrangements, solid harmonies and lyrical depth matched with catchy hooks. The thing that immediately jumps out about the Dirty Buckets when seeing them live is their unique instrumentation. The “dirty buckets” in the band’s name refer to the actual buckets that Reginelli uses for percussion.

Swart plays the cornet, a brass instrument similar to a trumpet but distinguished from it by its conical bore, more compact shape and mellower tone quality. Add singing saws (a saw played with a violin bow), axes, buckets, wine bottles, slide whistles and toy pianos into the mix and it’s safe to say you’ve never seen anything like the Dirty Buckets. “We’re kind of a little gimmicky but I think in a fun way that we don’t take ourselves too seriously,” said Morgan Williams, guitarist, lyricist and singer in The Dirty Buckets.

He shares the vocal duties with his wife Deborah Colley. Colley’s brother Brian plays violin, making the band a family show of sorts. “It’s just about expressing ourselves and having fun,” Williams continued.

“I wanted to have an upbeat group that was bluesy, roots music. We have a funky, fun sound. We call it ‘mountainbilly,’ rag, blues, folk music.

” Sweet Jessup and the Dirty Buckets are shown in this November performance of Belly Up Aspen in November. The Carbondale band has been making a name for itself throughout the state. They will play at the Carbondale Recreation Center at 4:30 p.

m. Saturday as part of the 5Point Film Festival. If you want to draw a comparison to the Dirty Buckets’ music, play their first recording, “Dirty Demo,” on Spotify.

The algorithm calls up The Wood Brothers and Lake Street Dive, a fair representation of their sound. Another band that comes to mind is Elephant Revival because of their reverence of the natural world, unorthodox instrumentation and the fact that Colley has the voice, natural beauty and charisma reminiscent of Elephant Revival’s lead singer Bonnie Paine (who also plays a singing saw). Williams and Colley met in 2006 when they were both counselors at a summer camp in Buena Vista.

They moved to the Roaring Fork Valley in 2008 to enjoy skiing, hiking, kayaking and climbing. Williams went to work at the Colorado Rocky Mountain School and now teaches at Carbondale Community School. Colley has primarily worked in the arts and in various nonprofits in the valley.

She now works for Carbondale Arts. Upon moving to Carbondale, the couple immediately fell into the music scene, playing with locals Jackson Emmer, Natalie Spears and others. “It’s a small musical community in the valley,” Williams said.

“I’ve had a couple of music projects over the years and when I left to teach abroad in Ecuador in 2018, it really freed me up to think about what’s next. What do I want to do? I had this vision for something really different and eclectic, but mostly really fun, and I wanted it to be a family friendly scene.” The Dirty Buckets came together out of jams at campfires and back porches in 2022.

The band cut its teeth primarily playing local gigs. The two songs on The Dirty Buckets’ most recent release, “Muddy Water,” are a distinct departure from the good-time party ethos of the band. That said, both songs are next level tracks.

The opening song, “Queen of Spades,” starts with the line, “Muddy Water, Colorado River, got a melancholy hold on me.” The song has a haunting sound which is contrasted by Colley’s sweet vocals. It’s a compelling song with interesting arrangements, vivid imagery and intriguing lyrics.

“It’s kind of about dealing with climate change, like forest fires and floods and all these things but brings them up in a vague way,” Williams said. “I don’t want to hit people over the head. I’m not didactic and preachy but I want to let people feel some connection to what’s going on.

” In the second song, “I’ll Be Around,” Williams sings the lead, backed by Colley’s harmonies and wrapped around Swart’s cornet. It’s a stunningly beautiful song dedicated to the memory of the band’s good friend, Casey Piscura, who passed away this past winter. “Casey was an amazing person,” Williams said.

“He was a big part of the community down here and was a dear friend of ours. When you lose someone close to you emotions boil up and as an artist I was just compelled to write this song. It was part of my process of mourning for him.

” In each chorus, Williams conjures images of nature, and how clouds, mountains and rivers can embody the spirit of someone you’ve lost. The song has John Prine and Warren Zevon vibes (particularly Zevon’s paean to loss, “Keep Me in Your Heart for Awhile”). Piscura was a farmer who hybridized tomato seeds.

The final chorus’ line, “I’m a seed, I’ll be around” will surely give goosebumps to all who knew him. The song is a beautiful eulogy to a lost friend. The Dirty Buckets just got back from Fort Collins where they played a festival called FoCoMX.

There were 400 bands on the bill, and according to Williams, it was one of the band’s best gigs to date. “People really turned out. It filled up and that was awesome.

We were so stoked. We do well in Carbondale. We’re just starting to build a fan base in Basalt and Aspen.

We’re starting to play more gigs outside the valley and we’re finding our people.” When asked what he hopes people take away from seeing The Dirty Buckets live, he said, ”We really want people to be entertained. I’ve heard many people say, ‘Wow, you guys have a different sound, and that’s what I love to hear.

I don’t want to be bluegrass, I don’t want to be rock and roll. I want to be a little different. I want people to take away a new listening experience.

I also want people to connect with some of our lyrics. We love seeing people in the crowd smiling and laughing and having a good time and sharing the musical experience with us.”.