Advertisement These sounds signal that the DisChords, a bluegrass and gospel band, are holding their weekly practice.
After practice, band members gather around Wayne Sherry’s kitchen table, where his wife, Karen, serves a snack while they confirm performance dates, arrival and departure times and what to wear.
Members of the band include Sandy Malliet on vocals and fiddle, Eldon Gardner on mandolin and vocals, Sherry on rhythm guitar and vocals, Fran Matson on lead guitar, Tom Baker on vocals, guitar and upright bass and Ron Sackett on banjo and dobro. (The regular banjo player, Gary Herr, is on a three-month vacation in Alaska. Herr has also served as lyricist for some songs.)
The seeds for the band were planted in 2004, when Gardner, Sherry and Matson, all members of the Viroqua Bluegrass and Gospel Music Association Board, played on the open stage for the second Viroqua Bluegrass Festival.
Members of the DisChords are (front, from left) Wayne Sherry, Sandy Malliet, Fran Matson; (back) Eldon Gardner, Tom Baker and Gary Herr. (Contributed photo)
“We had a lot of bad notes and the timing was not good,” Sherry said. “We practiced in a garage and after two songs (at the Viroqua Bluegrass Festival), we went right back into the garage.”
Sherry then asked Malliet to join the group. The two had been performing gospel music together since 1998.
“We wanted a female voice,” Sherry said. “Her role was to sing some leads and mostly harmony.”
Eventually Malliet learned to play fiddle.
Baker was then asked to join them. Herr joined after seeing an advertisement in Front Porch Pickins’, a bluegrass newsletter, seeking a banjo player.
Amy Erickson, of Brodhead, Wis., is the band’s roadie. Spouses offer moral support.
By 2005, the band was officially formed, and it made its debut at Viroqua’s third bluegrass festival.
The band has become a family, laughing together with ease as they joke with one another and share stories.
“The rapport is good,” Matson said. “We’ve become close; it keeps us going.”
The DisChords have performed at church services as far away as Wonder Lake and Harvard, Ill., and Plainview, Minn., to as close as Decorah, Iowa, and La Crosse. They also have performed at church services and community events in Vernon County and the surrounding area.
In addition, they have performed at funerals, weddings, birthday celebrations, class reunions, concerts and some festivals.
Some of the venues are repeats, but they are asked to perform at many new ones each year.
“We don’t turn down a lot,” Malliet said.
“We don’t accept invitations if we all can’t be there,” Sherry said.
Band members agree churches are their favorite places to perform.
“That’s mostly where we’re at,” Matson said. “We do the whole service.”
“I went to college to be a preacher, so this is my way to share God’s message,” Sherry said.
“I don’t see festivals as a goal,” Sherry said. “I like our festival because we know most everyone. We feel most comfortable in a church setting.”
“And they have good meals,” Gardner said with others agreeing with chuckles and nodding heads.
For Malliet, the most fulfilling aspect of performing is when at the end of an appearance a person approaches them and says something the band did touched them.
Baker said he likes connecting with people through the faith-based songs.
“When you touch people you can feel it,” Baker said. “When you look at the words as well as the music, the words are sometimes a sermon in itself.”
“I like to see the reaction of people sitting out there,” Matson said. “You see a foot going — you’re getting to them in some way. We give a good message to them.”
The DisChords have produced two CDs — “Our Message in Song” and “A Joyful Noise: A Joyful Spirit.” A third CD has been recorded, but needs to be mixed.
Sherry said he regrets the band didn’t start playing together sooner.
“You have to take advantage of the time now,” Sackett said.
“We are going to play until we are old,” Sherry said.
Advertisement 
