A little bit country, a little bit… the Platte Valley

Jason Swedlund and Mary de la Fuente performed at the Rustic Bar in Saratoga on Saturday, March 23. Swedlund and de la Fuente have both had an interesting musical journey which led them to become a perfect match as a musical duo.

Swedlund started his musical journey at the age of nine when he picked up his dad’s banjo and started “plinking around.” Swedulund thought he would be in trouble for messing with his dad’s banjo.

“I thought he would kill me for messing around with it,” Swedlund said. “My dad showed me some rolls and chords and I took off with it “.

At age 13, Swedlund joined up with his dad and Jerry Shaffer’s band Down Home Country. He spent the next six years playing at the Old Stage Stop in Drake, Colorado and, later, Jerry Shaffer and the Darn Thirsty Cowboys. During that time, Swedlund also started playing guitar and drums.

The journey evolved and Swedlund co-founded the Northern Special Band with Carl Miller of the Fall River Bluegrass Band. In 1994, Swedlund won the High Planes Five-String Banjo Championship and won at Fiddlers on the Gorge. He started doing a lot of solo work in 2008 and, during the COVID pandemic, learned live looping with help from friend and Grammy award-winning fiddle player Jeremy Garret of the Infamous StringDusters.

Swedlund met de La Fuente in 2023 through her daughter, Nohea. Although de la Fuente had not played in a while due to her hand being severely crushed by a horse bite, Swedlund said he was impressed with her.

“I could tell she was a real pro,” Swedlund said. ”She was a good guitar player and a great singer, I knew we’d become a great match.”

Swedlund said what he loves the most about being in entertainment is performing in front of people. He said it’s the people who make it all possible.

“It is all about the people,” Swedlund said. “Music has to be good and (it) must be tight and solid. It’s all about entertaining people because without them, you’re just another guitar player and singer without an audience.”

De la Fuente was a racehorse jockey until she was severely injured. Then met up with her life partner Steve Tunison, one of Dolly Parton’s guitarists. He taught her the guitar and they played together until 2013 when he passed away.

De la Fuente said she was asked to join a blues band which played venues on the West Coast, Idaho, and Montana. She also played in the International Blues Challenge and has been backed up by David Raitt’s band. Raitt is the brother of Rock and Roll Hall of Famer Bonnie Raitt.

“I accidentally joined a blues band because someone heard me sing and I joined a blues band in Seattle, Washington,” de la Fuente said. “I played with them for six years. Then I went on and played with Queenschrye’s drummer Doug McGrew, Bad Company’s bassist Lynn Sorenson, Stevie Ray’s drummer Chris Leighton and one of Deep Purple’s bass players, Tony Ruiz.”

De la Fuente said she is grateful to both Nohea, for the introduction, and to Swedlund for the opportunity he has given her. De la Fuente said the reason she loves to perform is because of the opportunity to meet people and make new friends.

“I love talking to people,” de La Fuente said. “When I was playing (in) Seattle, I would go off stage and dance with people and tell them to come sing with us.”

The combo works well and the audience seems to like what they are doing. Swedlund plays around the Platte Valley and in Colorado and still plays with the Darn Thirsty Cowboys occasionally.