Did You Know? - Pete Sutherland & Emmett Stowell

DID YOU KNOW? - Pete Sutherland & Emmett Stowell

The VFC Archive is full of fascinating first-person accounts of everyday life in Vermont and New England—past and present. In this feature, we'll share these stories with you.  

Since 2022 marks the 30th anniversary of the Vermont Traditional Arts Apprenticeship Program (VTAAP) we’re spending our first installments of Did You Know? looking at the lives and experiences of VTAAP participants over the years. 

This month, meet musicians Pete Sutherland and apprentice Emmett Stowell.

Emmett and Pete having a porch lesson

• Master Artist: Pete Sutherland (Traditional New England contra dance musicians, fiddle, piano, and guitar) 

• Apprentice: Emmett Stowell (Learning contra dance piano accompaniment)

Legendary Vermont musician Pete Sutherland is a versatile multi-instrumentalist who has played traditional New England music for decades. Pete and Emmett have been working together for a number of years, but their formal apprenticeship began in 2019 and it was interrupted by the pandemic. However, through Zoom and outdoor porch lessons they have persevered for the past three years and Emmett has come a long way. 

Throughout their multi-year apprenticeship, VFC’s Mary Wesley recorded interviews with the pair during a series of “virtual” site visits via Zoom (May 2020, Feb. 2021, and Feb. 2022) to hear about their learning and progress.

Pete's history with the piano goes all the way back to childhood, and although he drifted away from it for many years, it was contra dancing, a traditional New England dance that resembles square dancing done in long lines of partners, that brought him back.

Pete: I was a piano kid, so I took classical lessons when I was Emmett's age, and then I played in a rock band in high school and then I realized I could play by ear and I could start hearing chords and imitating them so I've been interested in chords ever since. And when I started playing fiddle and banjo late in college, I wasn't actively playing piano at all. It kind of came back later. When I started going to contra dances, I noticed that piano was part of the game, and seemed really like dead simple to me, because I'd been listening to jazzy pop music and such. Somewhere along the line, it really took hold, because I was a banjo player as well, as Emmett knows, so I brought the same thing to the game that he's bringing to the game, which is rhythm that I was already practicing and hopefully getting pretty good at. So I think it kind of grew organically like that. And then the harmonic stuff and all the moving lines and stuff, I've been drawing in from all kinds of places. I've been playing guitar since I was 12 and learned how to do bass runs, so I hear them in my head, I have them in my guitar, then my left hand on the piano kind of finds them, so that's part of the game I bring to Emmett. 

In 2020 he began working with 11-year-old Emmett Stowell through the VFC’s Vermont Traditional Arts Apprenticeship Program (VTAAP). Emmett is also a member of Young Tradition Vermont. He first sought out Pete as a banjo instructor, but then switched to studying piano accompaniment for contra dancing, a type of traditional New England dance that resembles square dancing done in long lines of partners.

Emmett: I broke a banjo string, that's how it all started. So I came to a lesson with Pete and, like, 5 minutes in, I broke a banjo string and I was like, "I always wanted to play the piano," and he was like, "well, i know a bit of piano" because he knows everything, and it's just spiraled and now we're here!

Pete and Emmett have now been working together for 3 years through VTAAP, and the  friendship they developed comes through in their easy conversation about their work together. In one particular interchange, Pete and Emmett talk about Emmett's early experiences playing with other musicians, and being faced with tunes he didn't already know:

Pete: The very last gig that I was part of was this student showcase that I did with Oliver Scanlon, where we had all our students come to a (this was a live one, not a virtual one) showcase. It was a big show and tell kind of thing. And then a lot of the kids played together. Pretty jolly and Emmett actually kind of on the spot was able to—as the resident piano player of that age group there—just sit down and accompany some people. I think without much notice at all. 

Emmett: No notice.

Pete: It was just kind of like, “Hey, you know, these tunes go forward.”

Emmett: Yeah, one tune I didn't even know but you were like, “It's just two chords. 

It's fine.” 

Pete: Yeah, right. Yeah. Okay. Well, the perfect opportunity to practice those, those plugins and get those tools going. That's exactly the way it's supposed to work. Exactly the way it's supposed to work.  

They have continued their partnership throughout the pandemic. In 2021 both discussed how much they were looking forward to the return of in-person contra dancing, when Emmett would be able to put his skills to the test. When asked what their ideal post-pandemic step would be, they had this to say: 

Emmett: Well, definitely going to a contra dance because, the thing about contra dances is they're going to be like, the last thing to come back because it's like…sweaty, [a] bunch of people breathing inside. Everybody's hot and sweaty. You move around with all these different people. But, I'm pretty excited about that. Maybe even playing at one. That can be pretty fun. 

Pete: Wow. You sure make contra dance sound like a lot of fun. Bunch of people sweating and breathing at each other. It's true, though!

Emmett: It’s very true.

Pete: And I agree with you, it's going to be the last thing to come back. Well, I would just say that, you know, if the pandemic was over tomorrow, I would definitely be looking for situations where I could hire Emmett to play some kind of a gig with me, because that's how I've gotten so many kids started his age and, you know, just anywhere around that age that can keep a beat or know some tunes. I'm missing that piece terribly because that's just been kind of like an exciting part of my whole mentoring thing, too. It's not just teaching tunes and teaching chords, but getting them out there.  

On April 16, 2022, Emmett did indeed join Pete onstage at the Capital City Grange for the first in-person Montpelier Contra Dance in more than two years.

Their mutual fondness and respect comes through as they talk about the benefits of having worked together for several years consecutively. In a recent 2022 interview, Pete talks about the joy and energy that Emmett brings to their lessons together: 

Pete: It's a great pleasure to have the opportunity, first of all, to have a multi-year association with any one person who is really deeply interested in one of these traditional arts. And I feel like Emmett's interest in it remains pure and strong and on fire. And, you know, he's really in his element when he's deeply into something with a groove to it. And of course, that's what contra dance piano is really all about. There's so many bells and whistles and tricks and licks and everything. And of course, we're more and more exposing ourselves to a lot of those in all the styles that surround and contribute to New England piano. But when all is said and done, it's really about the groove. And that's something he continually shows his dedication to. 

We look forward to Emmett perhaps someday serving as a master artist, passing on his knowledge and love of this New England musical tradition.