Violinist Lindsey Lester stamps her foot as her fiddle's melody contributes to the quickening tempo of "Cumberland Gap." Andy Cox beats faster on the cord of his washtub base, a self-made instrument, until the line becomes barely visible. Ross Wall carries the harmony on his banjo, and together they are Pomeranian Muffler Shop.
The idea for the band's name sprouted as two of the three members collaborated at a fall music festival.
"I didn't really have anything to do with it," Lester said, laughing as she learned the story of the name's origin.
"I had always wanted a band called 'muffler shop,'" Cox said. "We were trying to figure out a name to go in front of muffler shop, and I guess a Pomeranian must have walked by."
Matching the uniqueness of their name to the originality of their style, the band's sound centers around old-time music, which is considered the predecessor to bluegrass. One of the differences between the genres revolves around style of banjo playing. Wall utilizes a claw hammer method of picking the banjo for old-time music, but also incorporates the more well known finger picking ways of bluegrass.
"It's really cool getting to show people all of this older kind of music," Wall said.
Though the band is bringing a more unknown sound to the venues of Auburn, they're also known to cover classics such a The Rolling Stones, Tom Petty and Ween.
Featuring a varied array of mandolin, fiddle, acoustic guitar, banjo and the ever present washtub base the band's music flows with a surprising fullness for only having three members.
"There's only three of us and I'm the only one who's playing loud chords all the time, she's usually picking the melody, and he's only playing one string, so there's not a lot of spaced being filled," Wall said.
The beat that the washtub base provides fills in the sound by accounting for bass and percussion.
"The emptiness is like a blessing and a curse in a way," Wall said. "It really helps you hear what's going on, and people can really tune into the music, but also you're afraid of it dropping out."
Newly formed, the band has played a few gigs in local venues, and continues to grow in enjoying performing live.
"The first time (we played) I was kind of nervous," Lester said. "But then I realized that it was really just for fun."
Pomeranian Muffler Shop will take the stage Thursday, March 28, 10 p.m. at Zazu for a free show, and again at Earth Fest's main stage at 4 p.m.
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