The Thin Dimes, or better known as this year’s “King of the Roots‚” consists of five musicians who came together in a rather unorthodox way. Usually, a band forms because members have a similar taste in music or musical vision. While that is not the case with The Thin Dimes, it’s part of what makes them unique.

Frontman Nick Pence and bassist Nate Pence are brothers, but Nick met the rest of the band members various other ways.

“Long story short, it wasn’t one vision,” Nick Pence says. “(Hannah Satterwhite) grew up singing folk tunes. Paul (Rhodes) and I were trying to get away from blues for some reason and now went back to it. And Kevin (Cheli) studies jazz, but now he plays washboard also, so it’s kind of a whole mix of everything.”

The resulting mix of instruments, including piano, bass, guitar and vocals, display The Thin Dimes’ distinct range of sounds.

As for the competition process for the title of King of the Roots, the members say the recurring theme was surprise at their success. While Nick Pence says that he and the rest of the band learned to manage their expectations, they were still in shock about winning.

The competition included two rounds: first, all competitors had to submit a profile for their band. Then, selected bands competed in a regional competition within their city. For The Thin Dimes, that meant playing in St. Louis. Though they did not expect to win, they went on to compete at The Blue Note in the second and final round, which, of course, they also won.

“We were outside The Blue Note with another band, and (the emcee) was really nervous because she didn’t want to announce the winner because she hates doing that, so she was kind of ranting for a second and said ‘OK, well, I guess I’ll tell you guys who won.’ So that kind of killed the moment,” Nate Pence says.

Columbia local and Thin Dimes vocalist Hannah Satterwhite says she remembers feeling like she was going to explode from the news.

“We were all just hugging and it was really cool,” says Satterwhite, who has been to every Roots ‘N’ Blues ‘N’ BBQ festival in the past.

“It’s a big deal for me because, growing up here, that’s one of the biggest things going on in Columbia,” she says. “It’s Roots ‘N’ Blues and True/False. And so I was always going to them and always felt really at home there, and I never thought I would be playing in it, ever.”