Local Music Spotlight on: Peacemeal

Dec. 4, 2015

While much of their recent press has centered around The Rhubarbary, their popular house concert venue in Harbor Springs, some people may not realize that the venue’s owner/managers, Maureen and Dale Scott, are in a pretty great band of their own. The Peacemeal String Band is their name and folk music is their sound of choice; the couple has been married for 35 years and they’ve been performing together nearly as long.

WHAT’S IN A NAME

“We started calling it the Peacemeal String Band about 25 years ago,” Maureen said. “We just needed a good name and, since we often try to perform with a third person, piecemeal stands for the fact that we kind of fit musicians together as we go. So that half of the name kind of represents our rotating cast, and then we changed it to ‘peace’ for causes, as we also like to think of ourselves as a band that isn’t afraid to promote social issues.” Peacemeal utilizes different musicians for different shows, concerts or dances, often based on geographic location; their current third is Rich Meisterheim, who contributes bouzouki, mandolin and banjo.

MAUREEN’S PATH

Maureen is a nurse by profession and learned guitar on her own in high school.

“Then I met a guy named Tim Worman at the very first Elderly Instruments store in Lansing, playing a clawfoot banjo,” she said. “He introduced me to the Appalachian style of old-time music. He changed my life for sure.”

Traveling through Tennessee and Florida, Maureen became a true multi-instrumentalist, picking up the fiddle and hammered dulcimer, in addition to her already honed singing skills.

DALE’S ROAD

Her husband grew up in a musical family. “His dad is 91 and was — still is — a bagpiper,” Maureen said. “Growing up, he listened to a lot of Celtic music, which is also old-time music, with similar roots.” When the two met, Dale was also a self-taught guitar player; they were living in Lansing, where he had a band with his brother.

“His genre of music, though, was — and is — different than mine,” Maureen said. “Because we were together, and then got married, we meshed our styles together, but essentially, he’s a singer-songwriter who got hooked up with a fiddle player!”

DANCEABLE DUO

Now 30-year Petoskey residents, they’ve become well known at local events from concert shows to dances, and between them they know hundreds of songs, but they’ve steered clear of the nightclub scene on purpose.

“We’re not a bar band and never will be,” Maureen said, “but I think a lot of people have heard our music at one time or another.”

They’ve probably danced to it, as well.

A growing scene of square and contra dancing around the country offers acts like Peacemeal even more opportunities to showcase their talents.

“Fiddle music makes everyone want to dance,” Maureen said. “And everyone’s generally done that kind of dancing at some point. When you rediscover it as an adult, it’s really wonderful. Playing dances where you’re the band playing, the caller’s calling, a hundred people are dancing and everyone’s in sync — well, that is just huge fun.”

To learn more, visit peacemealstringband.com.