About Tumbledown (A Brief History)

Tumbledown is Alan Collins and Scott Swan. Alan and Scott both grew up in East Wilton, a small town in rural Western Maine in the 60’s and 70’s, listening to the music of bands artists such as America, The Eagles, The Doobie Brothers, Poco, Dan Fogelberg, Jim Croce, Jackson Browne, James Taylor, Gordon Lightfoot, etc. They have been best friends all their lives. They started playing guitars in their early teens and have played together off and on their entire lives. After high school, Scott joined the air force and ended up stationed in Washington, DC. Upon discharge, he moved to Florida. He found his way back to Maine as often as he could in the summer. Alan has lived in Maine his entire life.

Alan’s family has been renting Scott’s brother’s camp in Weld since before Alan was born, which happens to be right next door to Scott’s parents’ camp. Scott timed his visits in the summer for the time Alan’s family were in Weld as often as he could. Although both born and raised in East Wilton, they always spent a lot of time in the summer in Weld on Webb Lake.

Growing up, Alan and Scott had often played together in Scott’s garage, Alan’s basement or on the front porch of the cottage in Weld. But it was many years later before they actually played together publicly. Scott and Alan had previously played in other bands: Scott with The Lavell Kamma Band in Florida and Alan with Loose Ends in Maine, a duo with his friend Mike Worthley.

By the early 2000’s, Scott was able to come to Maine more frequently and they started getting more serious about playing music together. In 2005, they decided it was time to start recording some of the original songs that they had written together and separately over the years. They had some help from Scott’s son Jonathon on guitar, and some of Alan’s family members contributed backing vocals. In just three weeks, they recorded all the guitar and vocal tracks to 11 songs, basically turning the cottage Alan’s family rented into a recording studio (much to the chagrin of the other Collins family members).

They needed a name and it had to be something to do with Weld, Maine. Partly because that is where most of the songs were recorded, but mostly because Weld had always held a special place in their hearts. After considering several options, they decided on “Tumbledown,” after one of several mountains surrounding the lake.

Alan spent the next year adding additional tracks, mixing and mastering. In the summer of 2006, Tumbledown released their first CD, “Sail Away”. They had demos of a couple of songs they had recorded a couple of years earlier and decided to throw them on as bonus tracks. Because this was a home recording and not done in a professional studio, it doesn’t sound as “polished” as most professional CDs. Says Alan, “We wanted the feel to be that of a few guys sitting around the living room playing guitars (which is essentially what it was). We weren’t sure about that move at first, but the feedback that we have gotten from our fans has been overwhelmingly positive, saying that it makes the music more ‘real’ to them, almost like they are experiencing a live performance.” Fans and critics have described Tumbledown’s sound as down-to-earth, raw, down home, natural, laid back, carefree, bucolic and Audio Verité (Alan and Scott jokingly say they needed to look this one up). They hope to have a second CD in the works soon.

Although Scott and Alan have both greatly expanded their musical tastes over the years, their original tunes are markedly influenced by those great country rock, soft rock and folk rock bands and artists of the late 60’s and early-to-mid 70’s.

According to Alan, “Our music is also inspired by all the natural beauty of Western Maine: the bountiful woods, mountains, hills, lakes, rivers and streams that make Maine such a wonderful place to live. And that calming influence tends to come through in our sound as well.”

If you are a lover of acoustic-guitar driven songs with country, folk, rock and pop influences and tired of over-produced music, give Tumbledown a listen. You will not be disappointed.