Alaska String Band: The Zahasky Family

Biography

Paul and Melissa

Paul and Melissa Zahasky’s partnership has created thousands of hours of music - and a family - over the past two-and-a-half decades. The couple cite an eclectic blend of influences - local violinist Linda Rosenthal and Lynard Skynard; bluegrass; praise music and Led Zeppelin.

A classically-trained violinist, Melissa also has jammed with plenty of old-time and folk musicians. Her delicate vibrato and clean, lilting lines can swing, rock and drive depending on the tune.

A colorful instrument rack carved and routed by Melissa's father dominates one wall in the living room of the Zahasky's Juneau home, keeping their instruments close at hand.
Paul plays guitar and mandolin, and they both sing lead and harmony. Paul is an accomplished electric lead guitarist and also plays slide guitar, but rarely performs with the electric guitar. His mainstay is the acoustic guitar.

Paul grew up in the wooded, rolling hills of northeast Iowa, playing electric guitar in rock 'n' roll garage bands. Melissa grew up in Juneau, taking violin lessons from Rosenthal and Jeanette Seale.

Paul rolled into Juneau with an acoustic guitar in 1981. Melissa was in high school and had a summer job playing in a trio with a ragtime pianist and singer and guitarist Mary DeSmet, performing aboard cruise ships at port in Juneau. DeSmet introduced Paul to Melissa and the band became a quartet.

They courted for two years. They moved from playing music for tourists to playing bluegrass, old-time and gospel, as well as precise instrumental duets. Paul worked as a lift operator at Eaglecrest Ski Area, skiing on his lunch breaks unless Melissa came up with her violin.

They married in 1983. One song on their Master’s Design CD, "Be Still," dates back to that time, a psalm they arranged as a duet.

Their original songs range from "Blue Thunder," a rock tribute to a beloved old truck, and the blues-rock "I Ain't Suffered Enough to Sing the Blues Blues," to a delicate fingerpicked guitar and violin arrangement of an eighth-century Irish poem, "Be Thou My Vision." The jazz classic "Minor Swing" and the fiddle-driven old-time instrumental, "Bile Them Cabbage Down," showcase entirely different aspects of Melissa's playing.

"Most of the [CD’s] songs are about relationships," Paul said. "Family, friends, God, with music and with each other. The title track, 'Master's Design,' is a song for Melissa, talking about our marriage and relationship."

Church has been a mainstay of their music as well. Their contemporary Christian and praise-music compositions have been sung by the congregation at churches they've attended.

"We're not afraid to express our spirituality with music," Melissa said.

The Zahasky's CD wasn't recorded as a commercial endeavor, but rather as a showcase of their best and favorite material. Paul said every year they tend to feature their best new songs at the Alaska Folk Festival. The folk festival records each set for the performers. He listened to every tape of every set they've played to help decide what to record on the CD.
"It's who we are," Melissa said. "We picked our most meaningful messages, with the best sound - and we played the best we could."

Woodford, R. (2002, March 28). Gleaning best of 20 years for CD. The Juneau Empire.

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