Two Saturdays ago, on August 30st, the Fillmore Hotel was packed with over a hundred people, the audience of the up and coming local band, Cold Creek. This group is comprised of two Houghton seniors, Holden Potter and Evan Castle. The two began playing music together during their sophomore year, when they both lived on the second floor of Shenawana Hall. As they were the only two guitarists in their hall, they started writing jazz and blues songs together. The next year, they went on to perform at the Homecoming Coffeehouse. Since it was their first time playing live, the performance did not go as well as they had hoped, but the two continued developing their musical style over the next year.
Though their Facebook page refers to their music as being in the genre of “Country Rock Awesomeness”, Castle and Potter characterize their sound as “hip-hop, pop, and country”. They model their songwriting after the artist Sam Hunt, the prominent American country singer. They write their songs as “just a chance to tell a story.” Many of their songs are romantic. Their writing reflects the small-town America rural culture in which they both grew up, in the tradition of country, down-home music. Potter states that “the town of Fillmore had a huge influence…lyrically.” Castle plays the six-string banjo – or ganjo – lead guitar, acoustic, and sings harmonies, while Potter sings lead vocals and plays acoustic guitar. Occasionally, they have a percussionist accompany them.
The group considers themselves to be outside the norm of Houghton bands, since they usually play outside the college and are not a worship band. Most of their following is also outside of the college, since there is a large audience for country music in the surrounding area. The band has done very well recently. They claim that this is due to the fact that there are not many local country bands in the area, and so there is a higher demand for their sound. Their Facebook page has over 350 likes and counting, they have played live gigs in Rushford, Olean and many other nearby towns, and they even competed this past summer in the Country Showdown in Olean and won second place.
This past semester, Cold Creek recorded several tracks with the help of fellow senior, Jordan Sloat. These tracks are available on their Facebook and Soundcloud pages, and they expect to put out an EP within the next month. This EP will be a chance for them to showcase their abilities, featuring pop acoustic songs, southern rock styled songs, and piano ballads, maintaining their common acoustic sound. After Potter graduates in December, he is moving down to Nashville to pursue music, where Castle will follow him after walking in May. From there, the group plans on putting out mixtapes to send to record producers. Cold Creek expects that their music will evolve with the Nashville style – more pop and more creative hooks. They hope that this will add more soul to their sound, bringing their many diverse influences together to create songs that are unique, but accessible.
Their next gig is on September 19th, at 9:00pm in Don’s Semi-Friendly Tavern in Olean. They hope to draw a large crowd and add to their supporters as they move on to the professional world of music production.