Video Premiere: What Did He Say? from Roe Family Singers

Pinecastle Records has released a new music video from The Roe Family Singers, a clever and highly creative animated short drawn by Roe Family member Quillan Roe.

The group consists primarily of Quillan and his wife, Kim, in Kirkwood Hollow, MN. Their show combines a variety of old time and roots types of music, played on banjo, mandolin, guitar, fiddle, autoharp, and whatever else they may have at hand. You’ll hear bluegrass and old time mountain music, with a touch of blues and even some jug band sounds.

Quillan explained a bit about What Did He Say?, included on their current Roll Up The Rug album, and how he came to use his drawing talents in service to the song.

What Did He Say? is about the heart of Christianity: the Sermon on the Mount. Jesus lays out the cornerstones of His teachings pretty directly, ‘Be a good person; help out folks with less than you; welcome strangers; practice peace and understanding; treat folks how you want to be treated.’

My background is in visual arts, and, among other things, I used to self-publish my own comic books. When all of our gigs started evaporating because of the pandemic and we couldn’t play shows in front of people, I had all this free time on my hands and no creative outlet. I started drawing a daily comic strip, Roe Family Funnies, and publishing it on our Instagram account.

People really seemed to enjoy it. So much so that a couple folks I really respect—our bass player, Eric Paulson, and PBS director David Roth, who directed our, Don’t Worry About the Rich Man, video—suggested I make a video with my comics. The What Did He Say? video is the result.”

It makes for a highly effective presentation of the sentiment in the song.

Roll Up The Rug is available wherever you stream or download music online, or on CD from the band online.

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About the Author

John Lawless

John had served as primary author and editor for The Bluegrass Blog from its launch in 2006 until being folded into Bluegrass Today in September of 2011. He continues in that capacity here, managing a strong team of columnists and correspondents.