Mix one part bluegrass, a shot of rock and roll, a squeeze of jazz, a dose of folk and a splash of good times and you’ll get a full cup of Hot Buttered Rum, a five-piece band from northern California. The band will warm the gullets of Seacoast music fans at The Stone Church in Newmarket on Thursday and Friday, Nov. 29 and 30. The group’s brand of “progressive Americana” has intoxicated the Newmarket venue in the past, and band members Bryan Horne, Nat Keefe, Zachary Matthews, Aaron Redner and Erik “the Octopus” Yates look forward to playing there again.   

“What I like about playing there is it has this mountain town vibe to it,” said Redner, who plays fiddle and mandolin. “You always feel judged in the city, but at the Stone Church, from the first note, people are dancing their butts off. They just want a good time, which leads us to take more chances.”

The Stone Church shows will be the second stop on the band’s 2007 East Coast tour. HBR will be promoting its newest album, “Live in the Northeast,” which was recorded over the course of 10 shows in October and November 2006. Released in May, the album includes at least one track recorded in New Hampshire. 

Hot Buttered Rum’s sound is evocative of the open plains and tall peaks of the American West. With string heavy songs and heartfelt lyrics, it’s easy to see how the band has drawn influence from acts like The Grateful Dead, Bill Monroe, The String Cheese Incident and the Yonder Mountain String Band. According to Redner and bassist Horne, each performance is easily tailored to the venue where they’re performing.

“We do really well in arts centers and hippie jam band festivals. Our music is non-offensive. We do speak out politically sometimes, but it will be behind a catchy swing beat. It’s very accessible, and people can dance to it,” Redner said.

In addition to drawing influence from a range of musical genres, HBR also finds inspiration from the natural world. Horne described the group’s early ventures into the outdoors. “The band started backpacking in the Sierras, out into the environment and nature, and a lot of the first songs were about that,” he said. But these days, the members spend more time on the road, and their newer songs reflect that change in lifestyle. “(The songs) are more about traveling, maybe missing your honey,” Horne said.

However, the environment still weighs heavily on the musicians’ conscience. The band’s touring bus runs on bio-diesel and recycled vegetable oil. “Our bus is the strongest manifestation of our philosophy,” Redner said.

“We travel over 100,000 miles a year, and we thought we would try to do it in the most sustainable way possible,” Horne added.

Unfortunately, the bus, dubbed the “Well Oiled Machine,” will not appear at The Stone Church, as the band is flying across the East Coast. “Maybe someday we’ll get a veggie jet,” Redner said.

The band will also lend its music to environmental causes. “We want to be the soundtrack to the green movement,” Redner said.

In October, Hot Buttered Rum played at the Bioneers Conference in San Rafael, Cali. The conference is a gathering of scientific and social innovators working on environmental and community issues.

“This is an amazingly volatile, powerful time that we live in. We would like to help things improve, rather than not, by reaching across the political aisle and finding causes that are endorsable by anybody,” Horne said.

Redner, too, believes music has the power to unite. “Acoustic music, especially,” he said. “The bluegrass festivals are where, most often, you’ll see conservative types with hippie types. Our music reaches across political barriers and age barriers.” 
The musicians’ onstage chemistry helps widen the band’s appeal, according to Horne and Redner. The members of HBR were friends before they were band mates. “These are my brothers and my business partners. There is no lead in the band. We’re more of a team, and it’s about having a good time. People are watching you play music, and if you’re not getting along, it shows,” Horne said. “The whole idea is to get positive energy. I don’t think we fake that stuff. You can’t fake that stuff.”  

The two shows at The Stone Church will expose audience members to the feel-good vibe, which the band members describe as their defining element. Horne guarantees that the two shows will be different from one another. Hot Buttered Rum constantly changes its set lists to keep people coming back. Each tour resembles a jam band circuit, where loyal fans follow the band to several shows.

While each show offers its own particulars, the pinnacle of this year’s tour will be a New Year’s Eve show at the Oriental Theater in Denver. But as temperatures drop in New Hampshire, a healthy dose of Hot Buttered Rum at The Stone Church will keep things toasty warm.

For more information on Hot Buttered Rum, visit www.hotbutteredrum.net. For tickets to The Stone Church shows, visit www.thestonechurch.com or call 603-659-6321. Tickets are $12 in advance, $15 at the door; shows begin at 9 p.m.