Musician’s Taste: Matthew Mayes:

Co-founder of Jupiter Coyote Talks Marsh Hens and Marinade

By Amy C. Balfour

To witness pure enthusiasm, ask musician Matthew Mayes about marsh hens. Or hunting, marinating, and grilling marsh hens if you want to be precise about it.

“So there’s only a couple times per year when you can get these marsh hens,” explained Mayes, lead singer of acclaimed jam band Jupiter Coyote. Also known as king rail or clapper, marsh hens inhabit Lowcountry marshes, where they are next to impossible to spot, much less hunt, for most of the year. That all changes in October and November, however, when the year's highest tides, known as king tides, surge in.

”When the moon is closest to the earth, it will pull the water up higher than usual, and it flushes these hens up out of the marsh grass enough for you to hunt them,” he said. It is illegal to hunt marsh hens in motorized boats, so last fall Mayes and buddy Chris Sanders of Hilton Head Island paddled a kayak into South Carolina’s salt marshes in search of the elusive birds. 

For Mayes, half the fun of hunting marsh hens is in the challenge. ”You’re really at the mercy of the tide. You’ve got to look at the chart. When the water is at high tide, you’ve got about two hours [to hunt them] and that’s it. Once the crest starts turning away, you’re done. You won't see one.”

Mayes came home with 15 hens, the bag limit per hunting session. “The thing about a marsh hen, it’s a bigger bird. It’s in the rail family so you get some good meat off the legs. It’s not like a quail or dove where all you get is the breast meat,” said Mayes. “And it’s nice meat.”

There are seven ingredients in his marinade: Stubb’s Original Legendary Barbecue Sauce, white vinegar, Dale’s Seasoning, Louisiana Hot Sauce, garlic powder, and salt and pepper. As for the precise amounts, let’s just say perfectionists will be disappointed. 

“I just mixed all that in a bowl. Heavier on the Stubbs and the white vinegar. Just pinches of the other stuff. You don't want to put a whole lot of Dale’s in,” said Mayes, who sampled his concoction with his finger as he went along. The white vinegar removes the gamey taste, he said, and boosts the good flavor. After dressing the hens, Mayes dropped a mix of breasts and legs into the bowl with the marinade. He also mixed in some red drum fish that he caught on the same trip. He put the whole shebang in the refrigerator to soak overnight.

The next day Mayes fired up his Egg-style kamado grill, getting it good and hot before letting it cool down to 150 to 180 degrees. This lower temperature, explained Mayes, keeps the meat juicy without drying it out. He grilled the birds for 30 or 40 minutes—about the time it takes to drink a good beer or two, he said—turning them once. He cooked the hens alongside the red drum, which added an excellent layer of flavor. “Man, talk about slap your grandma,” said Mayes.

Mayes lives in Augusta, Georgia, but grew up in Brevard, North Carolina. His passion for music kicked off in second grade after watching another kid play banjo at a bluegrass festival. After the show, Mayes pulled weeds for a neighbor to earn money, eventually saving $43 to buy a Harmony banjo from the JCPenney catalog. Banjo lessons followed, and he formed his own band, the Cornhusk Kids, in 5th grade. 

Mayes gravitated to the guitar in high school, where he also earned notice for his basketball prowess. An All American high school basketball player and the fourth-ranked point guard in the country, he was heavily recruited at the college level, eventually playing for the University of South Carolina and later Wofford College. Playing guitar became his escape valve from the pressure of sports. These days he plays basketball to escape the pressures of touring. 

And he’s done a heck of a lot of touring with Jupiter Coyote, the seven-member jam band he co-founded with childhood friend John Felty in 1990. Mayes quit counting the number of shows the band has played after hitting 5000. Affectionately dubbed mountain rock, their sound is a blend of Southern Appalachian, bluegrass, and funk-rock music, “You can definitely hear the bluegrass. There's funky elements in it. Blues elements. Jazzy elements. Good old southern boogie,“ he explained. “We’re just a hodgepodge of all that stuff.” 

Follow Mayes and Jupiter Coyote on www.facebook.com/jupitercoyote. The band’s bio and tour schedule can be found at  www.jcmerch.com. Its upcoming single Carving Out Some Time  spotlights the marsh hen trip.

Please note that no grandmas were actually slapped after consumption of the marsh hens.