Most musicians figure if they keep practicing, keep getting better, they’ll make it big. Maybe have a song on the radio some day.

But the goal of the guys in Portland folk and bluegrass band Tumbling Bones in the past couple of years has been to keep getting better so that one day the U.S. State Department might send them on a mission.

After submitting their application three times, the members of Tumbling Bones are leaving Nov. 2 for a month-long tour of Eastern Europe, as part of the American Music Abroad program sanctioned by the state department. They’ll be performing and giving music lessons in Romania, Bulgaria, Ukraine, and Georgia.

None of the band’s members speak the languages of those countries, so they’ve been trying to memorize phrases like “thank you” and “where is the bathroom?” for the appropriate stops. But mostly they’ll be able to share their passion and enthusiasm for folk music, which needs little translation.

“We all enjoy that aspect of our job, traveling and getting a window into different cultures,” said Pete Winne, 29. “If you go as tourist, you just consume culture. But traveling as a musician, you’re sharing culture as well.”

The band’s three main members – Winne, Jake Hoffman and Kyle Morgan – are transplants to Maine who began playing together about two years ago. On this tour, they will be joined by fiddle player Aaron Jonah Lewis.

Early in their time together, members of Tumbling Bones heard about the American Music Abroad program and decided to apply. The application process, which draws hundreds of musicians each year, requires bands to submit a sample of the kind of educational program they’d put on in a foreign country. The application also asks for biographies on each member as well as audio and video clips. Plus there are lots of questions to answer.

“It’s like a college application,” Winne said.

The first time they applied, members of Tumbling Bones were rejected outright. The second time, they made it to the audition round but didn’t make the final cut. This year, they were one of 10 groups chosen to go abroad, out of about 250 who submitted applications.

What was the difference this time?

“I think we just got better as a band, got more hours playing together under our belts,” Winne said.

The band also has gotten some international experience, touring Ireland and other parts of Western Europe. But Eastern Europe surely will be different, especially Ukraine, where tensions with Russia are fresh and have been flaring into violence over the past year.

The Tumbling Bones members say they’ll be traveling with representatives of the U.S. Embassy in each country and aren’t worried about their safety.

“My feeling was, when I first heard where we were going, was that I’m honored and humbled to be able to go some place that’s in political turmoil, to see it first-hand,” said Winne.

Hoffman said his band’s trip is part of a broader U.S. effort to win friends in strategic places, like Ukraine.

“There is a reason the U.S. government is sending us there, and it’s slightly loaded. Obviously they have an agenda,” said Hoffman. “But from what I’ve been reading, there is some incredible fiddle music there, a Jewish population with a long musical tradition. So, for us, it will be really about the music.”

Tumbling Bones plays traditional American folk and bluegrass music, plus original music in that tradition. All three members play multiple instruments.

While in Europe they’ll play concerts, often in outdoor public spaces, and work with high school and college age music students.

“I’m just really looking forward to experiencing the culture and meeting some local folk musicians,” Morgan said.

Ray Routhier can be contacted at 791-6454 or at:

rrouthier@pressherald.com

Twitter: RayRouthier