Local band has UT ties

He's a college dean by day and musician by night.

This describes the life of Thomas Barden, dean of the recently formed Honors College.

"Never a day job, just doing it because I love it," he said. "If everything gets crazy at the university, which has happened occasionally, it's been really soothing thing."

Barden contributes guitar, mandolin and dobro, a type of guitar played with the instrument laying flat, for the old-time Americana quintet Old State Line.

A native of Virginia, Barden first started playing guitar when he was 16. It was later, while attending college and graduate school at the University of Virginia, that he was influenced by the local street performers.

"The music scene was unbelievable because of the old fiddlers. They'll come out and just play incredible stuff," Barden said.

He picked up the mandolin later in life and received the dobro as a present from his wife and bassist of Old State Line Rayna Zacharias approximately 10 years ago.

Aside from Barden and his spouse, Old State Line is composed of Ramsey Abu-Absi on guitar, mandolin and vocals, Cindy Lipman on fiddle and vocals and Larry Meyer keeping the beat with the drums.

Each member has their own connection to the university. Abu-Absi received his bachelors and masters degrees in economics at UT and teaches part time in the economics department. His wife, Kate Abu-Absi, is the director of the Arts Living Learning Community, located in Ottawa House East.

Lipman, wife of UT Professor of English Joel Lipman, received her bachelors and two masters degrees from UT, taught part time at UT and currently works full time at Mercy College.

Meyer received his law degree from UT and Zacharias received her nursing degree from the university as well.

Zacharias is a recent addition to the lineup since she picked up bass about two years ago.

"I think it's because we've been married for almost 30 years and she's been around it the whole time," Barden said. "I just love it because it's so much better than to say, ‘See you, I'm off to a gig,' it's ‘come on, let's go to the gig.'"

Zacharias said she feels she learned the bass quickly because she and Barden could play together.

"I think I have progressed as a bass player because I can play with him," she said. "I don't have to pack it up or take anywhere because it's home. I think it's been great and a whole new thing we can do together and play with."

The name Old State Line is based on Old State Line Road that runs north of Swanton and west of Holland, Barden said. The road was once the border that divided Ohio and Michigan, yet when Ohio obtained Toledo, Michigan got the Upper Peninsula and the new divide was drawn, County Road 34 changed its name to Old State Line Road.

"It just struck us as cool. It's got three syllables and easy to say like Ten Mile Creek," he said.

The band formed when Barden and Lipman's prior group, Ten Mile Creek, parted ways. When the duo reformed, they added Abu-Absi and Meyer. The addition of the drum set allows the band to play a mix of both bluegrass and rockabilly.

"Putting a drum in it makes it so much less old time," Barden said. "It can move us more toward Johnny Cash stuff and more rockabilly. It's really a lot more fun."

The duo started playing together for about 25 years in a variety of bands.

"I was playing the fiddle and he played guitar and that's how we emerged," Lipman said.

Meyer said Old State Line grew out of the Bardens' home in Old Orchard neighborhood to local venues.

With every bandmate having his or her own life to balance, finding time to practice can be difficult and because of that, there's more pressure to stay performance ready.

"You always want to have time to progress and learn new materials and things like that," Abu-Absi said. "It makes you focus more on your problem areas and things you want to get better at and practice and have a little bit of discipline to get together and work on stuff."

Meyer said each member of the band adds their own personality and style to the group.

"Cindy is more of the old time music person; Barden, coming from Virginia, has more of the folklore background, he brings that folk and mountain music," Meyer said. "My sense is Ramsey, [brings in more] Jerry Garcia and new grass. I come to it from more a rock background. I'm always pushing it to a folk-rock band. We all kind of bounce off each other."

Barden said music is a way to unwind for both him and his wife when they get home from work.

"Even if it's not a band, when I come home at five, the first thing I do is pick up an instrument for a half an hour," Barden said. "Rayna is the same way: she's an intensive care nurse and when she comes home, a lot of stuff has happened, and playing music seems to be the same for her."