‘People here really love music’: Meet the musicians behind 4 Franklin County bands | Arts/Entertainment

FRANKLIN COUNTY — Beyond the roar of guitar amps and drums, the backbone of every band comes from the audience that supports them.

Local musicians say there’s something special about performing live at Franklin County restaurants, breweries and events. The crowds are full of fans who know the lyrics and get up to dance.

Meet Bad Horsey, Chris and Issy, NightHawk and McMaple, four local bands whose talented musicians play many different styles – from acoustic guitars and smooth vocals to classic rock jams.

Bad horse

Roy “Bad Horsey” Hartson founded Bad Horsey 26 years ago with singer Bryce McNall. The band covers songs by childhood idols like Eddie Van Halen and Jimmy Page. Although he grew up on his father’s country music, Harston embraced the sounds of the classic rock scene of the 1980s.

“It’s a lot of fun to play on stage,” Harston said. “I’ve been doing it since I was nine years old, playing in my dad’s band as a drummer.”

Initially behind the drums, Harston changed his style and began playing guitar for other bands he was in.

Hartson didn’t start out in a cover band; instead, he was a member of Shock Value, which played original music. It was around this time that Bad Horsey’s roots began.

While working at Advance Music in Burlington, Harston purchased a pedal that would define his future band: the Bad Horsie Wah pedal, often used by Steve Vai of Whitesnake.

“I used it a lot on that project (Shock Value) and the singer at the time in that band gave me the nickname ‘Roy Half Stack Bad Horsey Hartson’ or the shorter version of ‘Roy Bad Horsey Hartson,’” Harston recalls.

After Shock Value broke up and the effort to find a new name began, Harston started his own cover band and was suggested the name “Bad Horsey” by a friend. Once he contacted Vai and got permission to use the name, he became Bad Horsey and continues to bring his rock classics to Vermonters.

Stage time is a huge part of the band’s life cycle and Harston said playing live music continues to be an adrenaline rush and a moment of euphoria during the performance. Live audiences shaped Harston’s life as a child and it continues to impact how he approaches live music today.

“We’re in great shape and having a lot of fun,” Harston said. “We’re very grateful to our fans and our fellow musicians.”

Chris and Issy

Chris and Issy began working together during the COVID-19 pandemic. The duo performs acoustic sets inspired by Dave Matthews Band, Tom Petty and John Mayer.

Chris Smet and Israel Arguello have continued to perform together as concert venues have reopened, and the crowds have cheered them on every step of the way. The Milton-based duo have grown from their early days, performing to, as Smet puts it, “the cheers and boos” of friends and family.

“We both played a little bit before all this started, Issy probably more than me,” Smet said. “It’s been a lot of fun to push each other and really hone our acoustic guitar skills. We’ve really invested in the craft, I mean the gear we started with and what we have today is night and day.”

The band started when Smet was playing guitar on his porch in Milton and Arguello was walking by and asked him to play with him. Smet said a neighbor asked them to play at her house for the Fourth of July, and that was their first gig.

As the duo began working together and understanding what the other knew, they were able to see shocking differences in their talents and creative perspectives. Arguello said that one of their strengths within the group is being able to bring their own ideas to the table and get the best result.

“The most interesting thing is that we bring very different perspectives, so I think the sound is always better,” Arguello said. “The interesting thing is, before I met Chris, I only knew one Dave (Matthews Band) song. Some of the songs we play, I had never heard before we started playing together.”

Performing on the Main Street Stage at the 2024 Vermont Maple Festival was one of the biggest stages the duo has played on, with Smet calling it the “highlight of the project so far,” but they’ve worked on building their confidence by playing weddings and other venues like the Maquam Barn and Winery.

“As we played, we gained more confidence in our playing and were able to improve the songs we played in our own way,” Smet said.

The band isn’t just about the music, as learning and growing from each other has been a highlight of the project. Going from neighbors who found each other to a full-fledged artist duo in the Vermont music scene has created a greater friendship.

“It’s been a lot of fun and it’s both a partnership and a friendship that we’ve really cultivated along the way,” Smet said.

Nightjar

Singer Kyra Maddix, Ray Parent on guitars and vocals, Pete Lawarence on drums and vocals and Mike Maddix on bass and vocals make up the local band NightHawk.

All of the band members had played with other bands before, but the spark for NightHawk came from married couple Kyra and Mike. The two knew they wanted to do something together, so in 2017, they put out ads for a drummer and reached out to a guitarist they knew.

The band continues to play around and interact with different audiences at different venues. Kyra said the energy of the audience is important to the band and is enhanced by the people who come to see them.

“It’s really exciting to have a great audience and incredible energy,” Kyra said. “Because we play locally, we often know people who come to see us and it’s really great to get together and hang out with people we know.”

The band plays a mix of music from different decades and cultures. Being so close to Canada, the band has had the chance to hear the musical productions of the Great White North and adds this music to a lineup of country, R&B and classic 1980s rock.

NightHawk has been around for seven years and continues to use his eclectic musical tastes to enhance his set lists and bring his own take on live music.

Mike and Kyra said some of the biggest and most positive feelings that come from their local group come back to supporting local businesses and the relationship between the two systems.

“We’re excited to have local businesses hire us,” Kyra said. “Being able to support local businesses and help them attract more customers is really exciting for us.”

McMaple

Guest musicians come and go from the McMaple cover band, but the trio of Liam McCaffrey, Cait McCaffrey and Brian Maple make up the core lineup.

The band performs a combination of classic rock, alternative music and pop during their concerts. All influences are shared by the band members. The band has stated that the mission is nothing but to have fun and be part of a band.

“There are a lot of cover bands in Vermont, and we wanted to get away from most of the ‘typical’ covers,” Cait said. “We wanted to play music that we love and songs that people forgot they knew, while changing the setlist just enough each time to keep it fun.”

While all venues offer the ability to host a live audience, McMaple recently started playing in Franklin County and immediately noticed an eclectic atmosphere.

“People here really love music and enjoy live bands. St. Albans is a great city,” Brian said. “We just moved here, so we’re still getting to know our new Franklin County neighbors, but so far it’s been great to play here. St. Albans has a lot of great music venues and we’re really happy to be a part of that scene.”

The band also finds ways to support other musicians in the area and encourages them to grow together. As a band, the band decided that whenever they saw a fellow musician show up at a show, they would have the opportunity to show off to the crowd and promote themselves.

Recently, the band was nominated for a Seven Daysies Award for Best Cover Band and said they were honoured to be ranked so highly in the context of the state’s musical talent.