ACCLAIMED CELLO INNOVATOR EGGLESTON PERFORMS IN CAMDEN FOR WATERSHED SCHOOL

Camden, Maine - As the man whom the Boston Herald calls “the premier cellist in modern roots music,” Rushad Eggleston has performed on Prairie Home Companion, at Carnegie Hall, and in a Mazda TV commercial. But his Oct. 5 show at the Camden Opera House is personal—taking him back to his roots as a passionate advocate of creativity in childhood: The show is a benefit concert for Camden’s Watershed School, the independent high school that fosters innovation and creative skills in students from around the midcoast.

            Eggleston, 34, picked up the violin at age three and switched to cello at eight. But he dropped out of his public high school in Carmel, Cal., because the homework assignments were boring and rote. “When I was in school, it was like music was just an extracurricular activity and after homework I’d have only two hours to practice,” he recently told the Monterey County Weekly. “Music is more than an extracurricular activity. It’s my life. The decision to quit school was easy.”

            With the encouragement of his parents he played his cello and electric guitar for eight to 14 hours a day while listening to everything from Baroque fugues to heavy metal. At some point he started playing Bach
on guitar and Metallica on cello, and the rest is history.

            “Rushad is one of the best cellists I’ve ever worked with,” says Darol Anger, the renowned West Coast fiddler who recently moved to Portland, Maine. “He transcends all musical limitations.”

            Eggleston eventually went back to school—on a full scholarship to the prestigious Berklee College of Music in Boston. While a junior there he was nominated for a Grammy award with his band, Fiddlers 4. After college he became a founding member of the popular alternative bluegrass band Crooked Still. Now Eggleston performs with his own electric rock band, Tornado Rider, or (on his current tour) as a soloist. Eggleston has a big following in Maine thanks to several years when he taught at Maine Fiddle Camp in Montville.

            Onstage, Eggleston wears wild costumes and often plays with his cello strapped over his shoulder, like a guitar. He deconstructs Bach’s cello suites, riffs on Django Reinhardt and sings his own songs, many in his invented language of Snee.

            “He’s someone who’s always doing something outrageous,” says Anger. “Usually you don’t want someone like that in your band, but everything that comes out of his cello is always right. I could always count on him musically, whether he was throwing his shoes off or doing something else crazy.”

            At Maine Fiddle Camp Eggleston was a favorite teacher who encouraged students to follow their instincts and let their imagination loose. “The impressive thing about Rushad is that he learned the rules before he started breaking them,” says Watershed Director Will Galloway. “He’s an inspiration to our students, who learn essential skills and are then encouraged to innovate.”

            Advance tickets for the 7:30 p.m. concert on Oct. 5 cost $20 for adults and $15 for students, and can be purchased through the Camden Opera House website (camdenoperahouse.com). All proceeds benefit the scholarship fund of the non-profit Watershed School.

            Watershed attracts students who are seeking a demanding intellectual environment in the context of a small and supportive learning community. The ten-year-old school is accredited by the New England Association of Schools and Colleges and is a Maine State Approved School. For more information, please contact: 207-230-7341 or go to www.watershed-school.org.