The Infamous Stringdusters
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After finally being in the same room for the first time in six months, the Infamous Stringdusters seized the moment for their revealing new album, Toward the Fray. Inspired by self-reflection and a strong sense of solidarity, the project documents the Grammy Award-winning group’s remarkable growth as instrumentalists as well as songwriters. Released on their own label, Americana Vibes, the collection also firmly establishes the band’s stature on the modern acoustic music landscape, where they’ve built a solid and enduring fan base among traditional and progressive audiences alike.
The five band members – Travis Book (bass), Andy Falco (guitar), Jeremy Garrett (fiddle), Andy Hall (Dobro), and Chris Pandolfi (banjo) -- wrote the songs on Toward the Fray separately, sending simple phone demos to each other during lockdown. Fueled by friendship and a mastery of their instruments, the 13-track collection feels live, but not necessarily loose, due to a synergy that’s developed over the last 16 years of playing sheds, clubs, and festival stages across the country.
“With all of our records, we always go into the studio to capture the live energy of our band, so I feel like we were all comfortable just plugging right in and getting started,” Pandolfi says. “All five of us have arrived at this point in our careers where we all produce – we produce our own music and some of us produce for others. We knew we could get it done with all that collective intel and know-how. One of the awesome things about being in this band is that everybody is always working on their instrumental game. When we show up for a new tour or a new album, we all get a chance to dig even a little deeper -- and you can hear that part of it. That's always been part of our mantra.”
Toward the Fray begins with a somber perspective in songs like “Hard Line” and “I’m Not Alone,” even as the arrangements tap into the ambitious, enthusiastic musicianship the band is known for. The point of view in “I Didn’t Know” feels especially personal for Garrett.
“For me, it was a heavy time, with the pandemic slowing everything down, but what affected me the most was the death of George Floyd,” he says. “I can't say what an impact that had on me personally, being an average American white guy going along through life, not necessarily fully understanding what the other side of the fence was. I took a deep look at myself because of that story. I got inside of my head and wanted to write about it. Several songs on this record come from that vantage point, trying to put more thought into, how can we bridge this gap that has happened? ‘I Didn’t Know’ is about that. I didn’t know we had to pay attention to these things. It was a wake-up call for me.”
Continuing the conversation, Book adds, “All five of us took that opportunity for our consciousness to evolve, and we took the responsibility seriously. That’s what I hear when I listen to this record. The songs are very honest and real, but what other option do we have? There’s a responsibility as citizens of this country and as citizens of earth, for all the reasons – ecological and cultural -- to lean in and to turn toward the battle. Everybody brought a lot of conviction with their tunes. Everybody came with a clear idea of what their statement was going to be. I think because of the situation we were all in, a harmonious and collective sound came out of that.”
The title track of Toward the Fray finds the narrator making a decision to get involved, rather than just comment on the sidelines. It’s a powerful image – and one that required an attention-grabbing visual. Of the cover art depicting a young girl standing firm among the wreckage, Hall says, “When we decided on the album title, I imagined the fray being a city that was on fire or in turmoil. And in juxtaposition of all that destruction happening, there’s a child. That's what was happening in the world at the time. There were little kids seeing these protests and all this strife. No one is safe from what's going on, as far as experiencing some level of it. One thing that I like about the artwork is that the child has a strength to her, especially the way she’s looking right into the camera. She’s got to wear a gas mask and she looks ready to enter into the fray, like, ‘All right, I’ve got to face this.’”
Toward the Fray is also the first Infamous Stringdusters album with drums, with the band deciding that the songs were calling out for it. The band explores other creative directions, too, ranging from the persistent march of “Revolution,” to the comforts of home in “Pearl of Carolina.” Meanwhile, “Spirits Wild” will be relatable to those who can’t help but answer the call of the road. “When Will I Ride Again,” a sequel to “Tragic Life” from their first album, is cinematic but also emblematic of their own questions about picking up where they left off. “How Do You Know” and “Through the Floor” are among the band’s most vulnerable compositions in a catalog of exceptional material.
“To me, the theme of Toward the Fray is about dealing with your problems head on, rather than running away from them,” Falco says. “One of the things that I’m really proud of is that this record is true to all of us. It’s a genuine record because it really is about everything that we were all going through. We’re talking about the pandemic and all of the chaos, but we’re talking about love and other things, too. We were able to reflect and dive deep and look inward during all of this. I hope people who hear these songs will feel like they’re not alone. That’s what we always hope that people can relate to in our songs -- that we’re all in it together.”
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Travis Book
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Life can be a minefield of thoughts and the rollercoaster of emotional states. I write songs, in part, to help me process and understand what I’m experiencing. It’s therapy fleshing these things out, getting them out of the realm of inner monologue so I can hold them in my hands, turn them over, look at them and marvel at their strangeness. “How odd that love would make me afraid. That I’d feel jealousy about this or that. That I’d be confused when I know the game is simple. That I’d be lonely when surrounded by so much love. That I’d be wracked with doubt when I was clearly on the right path with the right motives. How strange and unpredictable these emotions… and how beautiful.
I made this record because it was time. I’d been writing, performing, and recording music for over 20 years and had yet to make a statement that was purely my own. The previous three years I’d cultivated a weekly gig and played with everyone I could, in every style I could. From some of those sessions emerged a theme and an aesthetic for a grand gesture in the form of an album. It had emerged organically when I asked myself, “If you could do whatever you wanted, what would it be? And if you could sing about whatever you wanted, what would you sing about?” The answer was that I’d play a jet black Gibson ES 135 and front a band of the best musicians in town. I’d sing songs I’d written about love and other (strange) emotions. I’d follow my heart and my instinct with very little compromise, and I’d do it for the love, the challenge, and as an offering to myself and the universe.
These songs span my entire creative life. Several of them were written for this project. Some have been recorded before with my neo-Bluegrass ensemble The Infamous Stringdusters. A few of them were just waiting for me to pick up an electric guitar before they came home. One of them was the second song I ever made up. These songs are about my life and my experience trying to make sense of it all. Emotions and thoughts are strange. They feel so close, so real, yet they are separate from ourselves and they materialize the fall away like clouds in a summer sky. They exist only in theory but they create and inform every bit of our experience. If, like me, you’ve attempted to make sense of them, then I know you’ll find something in Love and Other Strange Emotions that resonates and seems familiar.
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Andy Hall
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Andy Hall plays and sings with excitement, passion, precision and a dynamic that has established him as one of the top vocalists and players in today’s world of acoustic music. A founding member of the GRAMMY-award winning bluegrass band, The Infamous Stringdusters, Hall won three IBMA awards with the group in 2007 (Best Album, Emerging Artist, and Song of the Year) for their debut effort, Fork In The Road.
Hall’s 2008 release, The Sound of the Slide Guitar, won the IBMA award for Instrumental Album Of the Year. He has since released four additional solo albums, Aquifer EP, Let the Steep Play with Roosevelt Collier, 12 Bluegrass Classics for Resophonic Guitar, and A Universe Within. In 2018, The Infamous Stringdusters won a GRAMMY for Best Bluegrass Album, for their 2017 release, Laws of Gravity.
Andy’s latest solo record, Squareneck Soul, features 10 instrumental bluegrass songs, with a guest feature by American guitarist and bluegrass musician Billy Strings.
Having taught thousands of students, Andy teaches online resonator guitar lessons through the Artistworks teaching platform, with access to video lessons, guitar tabs, backing tracks and more. Andy has shared the stage and recorded with a wide range of artists including Dolly Parton, Wynona, Emmylou Harris, Earl Scruggs, Ryan Adams, Zack Brown, Charlie Daniels, Jack Black, Rodney Crowell and many others.
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Chris “Panda” Pandolfi
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Music was all around me growing up. My grandparents, Frank and Carmela Pandolfi, started the Connecticut Opera Association in 1942. I never met my grandfather, but my grandmother got us playing piano at a really young age. Ultimately inspired by my older brother Jono's musical tastes and exploits, I got my first banjo in the summer of 1997. The next ten or so years flew by. During that time I got my undergrad degree at Dartmouth College and then went on to be the first ever banjo principal at the Berklee College of Music before moving to Nashville, TN in 2004. Along the way I was lucky to work with many amazing people, but ultimately I started a band with great musicians who are also my great friends--The Infamous Stringdusters. We have been touring for about 16 years, have a bunch of albums and an amazing community of fans. The Dusters have 4 Grammy nominations and a Grammy win for 'Bluegrass Album of the Year' in 2018. We strive to make quality original bluegras, explore the world and enjoy life.
Aside from the Dusters I have a few solo endeavors that keep me busy. TRAD PLUS is a banjo-centric exploration of a different sonic world, combining vinyl samples, drums, synths, strings, beats and much more. I released my first album, Interference, in the fall of 2015, and it's been downloaded over 600,000 times internationally. My latest album, 'TRAD PLUS Presents Trance Banjo' brings together lots of banjo composition along with classical vinyl samples, beats, synths, virtual instruments and more--this was a big moment of conceptual creativity for me! Before these experiments started, I wrote and produced two banjo-centric solo albums (Looking Glass and the Handoff), that feature a lot of original music and some of my favorite acoustic players. I've also produced records for a bunch of great bands including Trout Steak Revival, Meadow Mountain, The Kitchen Dwellers, The Sweet Lillies, Morsel, Never Come Down and a few others. In addition to producing, session work and solo endeavors, Andy Hall and I front the Bluegrass Generals--a rotating cast of killer bluegrass pickers that come together for a weekend of music a few times a year. Past Generals include Sam Bush, Larry Keel, Sam Grisman, Billy Nershi, Billy Strings and more.
My latest venture is my new podcast, 'Inside the Musician’s Brain.' It's a deep dive into everything that’s underneath the music and the artists that inspire us. I explore the Stringdusters world and I also sit down with other influential artists to discuss inspiration, creativity, and the many facets of bringing a musical vision to life. I love getting heady with other musicians! New episodes come out every two weeks. ITMB is part of the Osiris Podcast Network.
One fairly regular topic of conversation on ITMB is the rapidly growing world of bluegrass—something I have been interested for as long as we’ve been playing. Bluegrass is its own world, filled with incredible musicianship and a short but vibrant history of crazy characters, trends and changes. A few of my written pieces about the current state of the bluegrass world reached a big audience via this site, back in 2010. In the wake of that attention the International Bluegrass Music Association asked me to deliver a keynote address at the 2011 World of Bluegrass in Nashville, TN (their annual business conference), giving some real recognition to a new vision of a bigger, more connected acoustic world. Sinice then, I’ve been very involved with IBMA, serving on the board of directors and various comitees. I also explored many of these topics in a recent piece for No Depression's 'Bluegrass Beyond' issue. It's an exciting time for bluegrass, and we look forward to being a part of whatever is next.
I moved to Denver, CO in 2013, a place that has always embraced the Stringdusters. I'm excited to call it home.
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Andy Falco
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“Music was always a big part of our household growing up,” shares Andy Falco ahead of his forthcoming album The Will of the Way. “We were always encouraged as children to play musical instruments in school. Playing guitar started at home through the influence of my big brother Tom.”
Andy Falco is a guitarist, singer, songwriter and producer, and one-fifth of the GRAMMY award-winning bluegrass quintet, The Infamous Stringdusters. As a kid, Andy’s brother was the primary influence and inspiration to play guitar and jam.
And in a household where listening to the likes of the Beatles, Grateful Dead and the Allman Brothers, it’s certainly no surprise that the direction his own music took very much fell into the world of the blues, Americana and ultimately bluegrass.
Falco, as his fans and bandmates have come to call him, spent his formative years playing music on his home turf of Long Island and in New York City, where the music scene of the 90s was defined by small clubs, all of which curated a vibrant musical environment.
“Generally speaking, I played everywhere and anywhere I could, shared Falco. “I’ve been in so many bands over the years across many sub-genres of Americana music – Rock, Blues, Soul, Bluegrass, Folk… and eventually I landed with the Infamous Stringdusters.”
Having been friends with some of the [Dusters] guys from the northeast, it was 2007 in Nashville, after having relocated to tour and record with several artists as a side musician, when he and the Stringdusters officially joined forces.
Since 2007 and after Falco joined the band, he and the Stringdusters went on to record 9 studio records, one of which, 2017’s Laws of Gravity, went on to win a GRAMMY for Best Bluegrass Album.
As a songwriter, Andy’s approach is simple. “I simply sit and observe what I see in the world around me, and try to put it to music. Especially lately, I’ve gravitated towards certain observations that I hope others might relate to as well.”
Andy’s forthcoming album, The Will of the Way, stems from a number of songs that he’s had for a while, but much of it was written during what he refers to as “the great pause” of 2020.
“Being grounded from the road due to the pandemic, I’ve uncovered time to truly dive into songwriting in a way I never had before,” shared Falco. “It was a very emotional time (for me), and it led me to ask myself a lot of questions internally like ‘why am I writing this song,’ what am I really trying to say?’ I became only interested in recording songs that I felt a deep personal connection to, and the result was this album.
The Will of the Way is Andy’s first solo album to be released in 15 years. It features musicians from Long Island including his brother Patrick (on bass) and others from the local scene including Jon Preddice and Chris Marshak. The album also features a great Massachusetts-based singer, Erica Leigh, as well as Dave Butler (Guster), Damian Calcagne, Cody Kilby (The Travelin’ McCourys), Joe Russo on drums on a few songs, and Joss Stone on one track.
Andy lives in Suffolk County, Long Island, New York where he produces, engineers and mixes albums in his studio between tours. The Will of the Way is due out July 9, 2021 on Americana Vibes.
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Jeremy Garrett
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Jeremy Garrett is known as an innovative fiddle player, expressive singer and soul-searching songwriter in the Grammy Award-winning band, the Infamous Stringdusters, who broke onto the national scene in 2007, scooping up 3 IBMA awards including Album and Song of the Year. Since then, the group has become an international ambassador for progressive bluegrass.
When not touring with the Duster, Jeremy turns his attention to his solo show, wowing fans by using electronic effects to layer and loop multiple instruments and vocals. Jeremy has a more intimate side as a songwriter, and has a broad catalog of originally crafted songs. He’s contributed several songs to the Stringdusters and has collaborated with Darrell Scott, Oliver Wood, Jon Weisberger and more.
Jeremy is currently supporting his most recent release, River Wild, a true to form bluegrass album. River Wild is a full length, twelve song album consisting of four instrumentals and eight tracks with vocals (seven originals all written or co-written by Garrett and a new spin on a classic Bill Monroe song).
Some of the musicians Garrett picked to accompany him on this journey down the river wild include Seth Taylor (guitar), Alan Bibey (mandolin), Ryan Cavanaugh (banjo), Gena Britt (banjo), Russ Carson (banjo), Travis Book (bass), Barry Bales (bass), Andy Hall (dobro), Lou Reid (tenor vocals), and Josh Shilling (harmony vocals).
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Ghost of Paul Revere
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And so it goes. A group of lifelong friends have made the decision to say goodbye. In this case it isn’t the end that just fades to black, but rather the birth of the fourth full-length offering by Maine band, The Ghost of Paul Revere. Goodbye is the most important musical statement this band has made, reflective of all their years together, yet indicative of their shared growth.
It's everything the band—Griffin Sherry [guitar, vocals], Max Davis [banjo, vocals], Sean McCarthy [bass, vocals], and Chuck Gagne [drums, vocals]—have been working towards all along.
It marks a profound moment where they’ve poured all of their experiences into one last body of work.
Recognizing the gravity of this undertaking, they didn’t hold back. The stories are as real and raw as ever. The instrumentation is rich and lively as ever. The songcraft is powerful, poignant, and poetic as ever.
“Thinking about it now, the experience of The Ghost Of Paul Revere has been beyond comprehension for me,” confesses Sean. “When we look around, we have to pinch ourselves that this has even happened in the first place. There have been so many fever dream moments. We could laugh about checking into a hotel with no power or being stuck on a boat in the middle of a storm on the ocean! We could cry about getting robbed. But then, there’s the Ryman or Red Rocks and every Ghostland. The most prevalent emotion is gratitude.”
“As a lifelong musician, I’ll never forget the opportunity the Ghost boys have given me,” agrees Chuck.
With Goodbye, The Ghost Of Paul Revere churned out another batch of songs that undoubtedly will last. They knew exactly what they were doing and how important it was to both the legacy of the band and the pledges they’d made to one another.
“It’s been a pretty long journey,” observes Griffin. “There have been equally as many heartbreaking and fulfilling memories. We’ve learned a lot of good lessons. The past 11 years have been pretty incredible, to say the least. It’s not lost on any of us. We did all of this with the sweat off our back, our blood, and our tears. We were able to build the band by creating what we wanted to create, writing what we wanted to write, and performing the way we wanted to perform. We have a brotherhood that will hopefully endure forever, even as it changes shape. Hopefully, the songs last too.”
In late 2020 after quarantining for most of the year, the musicians decamped to Sean’s family cabin in order to reunite and write. This 48-hour adventure brought them together and inspired further writing throughout 2021. By the time they hit the studio with co-producer and engineer Dan Cardinal, they had decided the overall direction and opted to primarily record live, trusting one another more than ever after all of this time and making Goodbye even more special in the moment. They were all on the same page.
Channeling their experiences, this undeniable energy underlines the first single “Letters From The War Of Love And Loss.” Delicate acoustic guitar entwine with a soulful vocal performance and a jazz-y piano solo. Still, their boisterous knack for a sing-a-long refrain takes the spotlight.
“It’s one of the more jovial tracks on the record,” Griffin goes on. “The phrase ‘Letters From The War Of Love And Loss’ had stuck with me for a long time. It’s a communal song that we hope the audience would want to join in and sing along with us. This is our party tune.”
On the other end of the spectrum, “Knuckle” rustles up airy guitar rife with western soundtrack-style tension as the beat simmers in the background beneath hypnotic harmonies.
“It’s an exploration of the idea you need an audience as an artist,” reveals Max. “A lot of my favorite painters revered solitude and the space within the studio. You’re creating the whole opus to escape from everybody, including yourself. It’s an opportunity to get out of your own way and channel something else.”
Then, there’s “In Deep.” Max’s deftly plucked banjo rings out through this dyed-in-the-wool love letter sent straight from the heart.
“It’s just a love song for my soon-to-be wife,” affirms Sean. “Through everybody’s combined hearts, it took on a different level of energy.”
“Vivid Dream” hinges on a head-nodding groove before a bluesy electric guitar lick kicks in, embracing the band’s rock ‘n’ roll inclinations wholeheartedly evocative of their commitment to pushing forward.
“It was a natural progression,” Griffin notes. “Why don’t we put an amp on the acoustic guitar and see what it sounds like? The record ebbs and flows between soft songs that are more akin to what we used to do and more rocking songs with pretty good grit to them.”
Echoing raw emotion, “At Least I Know It’s True” teems with longing and remorse in quaking vocal delivery uplifted by sparse acoustic guitar.
“The chorus could be a reflection of someone pacing around and waiting for another person to come home perhaps after an argument,” Griffin shares. “Eventually, the song quiets, and the person comes home.”
It’s been quite a journey for The Ghost Of Paul Revere. In 2011, they delivered a signature sound evocative of folk, bluegrass, rock, country, and Americana unlike anything else, which they perfected across various full-length LPs and EPs. Additionally, they canvased the country with The Avett Brothers, The Revivalists, Old Crow Medicine Show, Trampled By Turtles, Jamestown Revival, The Dead South, Railroad Earth, and The Infamous Stringdusters. Acclaimed by Billboard, Boston Globe, and The Boot, their “Ballad of the 20th Maine” even became the official State Ballad of Maine as designated by Governor Janet Mills. Meanwhile, they built Ghostland into a festival brand of its own, running eight years strong as of 2022.
Now at another crossroads of the journey, The Ghost Of Paul Revere closes the curtain with Goodbye.
“Goodbye is a very dynamic snapshot,” Sean leaves off. “In a lot of ways, it feels grown up to me, but we’re still the same musicians and people we’ve always been. So, I hope you resonate with it in your own right.”
“I hope listeners love the songs and want to keep listening to them for as long as they’ve got ears,” smiles Griffin. “I do think it is a good moment in time for us. I hope the whole body of work shows you the journey we’ve been on from where we started to how we got here. We took a lot of chances and integrated different types of music and instruments, but the core has been there since 2011. That core is we care about the songs, their quality, and singing on them with as much passion as possible. I hope Goodbye shows that a group of friends can go out in the world, sing those songs, and be rewarded for it. Maybe it inspires other people to take a chance and realize creating can be a really wonderful thing to do. It has been for us.”
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Midnight North
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And so it goes. A group of lifelong friends have made the decision to say goodbye. In this case it isn’t the end that just fades to black, but rather the birth of the fourth full-length offering by Maine band, The Ghost of Paul Revere. Goodbye is the most important musical statement this band has made, reflective of all their years together, yet indicative of their shared growth.
It's everything the band—Griffin Sherry [guitar, vocals], Max Davis [banjo, vocals], Sean McCarthy [bass, vocals], and Chuck Gagne [drums, vocals]—have been working towards all along.
It marks a profound moment where they’ve poured all of their experiences into one last body of work.
Recognizing the gravity of this undertaking, they didn’t hold back. The stories are as real and raw as ever. The instrumentation is rich and lively as ever. The songcraft is powerful, poignant, and poetic as ever.
“Thinking about it now, the experience of The Ghost Of Paul Revere has been beyond comprehension for me,” confesses Sean. “When we look around, we have to pinch ourselves that this has even happened in the first place. There have been so many fever dream moments. We could laugh about checking into a hotel with no power or being stuck on a boat in the middle of a storm on the ocean! We could cry about getting robbed. But then, there’s the Ryman or Red Rocks and every Ghostland. The most prevalent emotion is gratitude.”
“As a lifelong musician, I’ll never forget the opportunity the Ghost boys have given me,” agrees Chuck.
With Goodbye, The Ghost Of Paul Revere churned out another batch of songs that undoubtedly will last. They knew exactly what they were doing and how important it was to both the legacy of the band and the pledges they’d made to one another.
“It’s been a pretty long journey,” observes Griffin. “There have been equally as many heartbreaking and fulfilling memories. We’ve learned a lot of good lessons. The past 11 years have been pretty incredible, to say the least. It’s not lost on any of us. We did all of this with the sweat off our back, our blood, and our tears. We were able to build the band by creating what we wanted to create, writing what we wanted to write, and performing the way we wanted to perform. We have a brotherhood that will hopefully endure forever, even as it changes shape. Hopefully, the songs last too.”
In late 2020 after quarantining for most of the year, the musicians decamped to Sean’s family cabin in order to reunite and write. This 48-hour adventure brought them together and inspired further writing throughout 2021. By the time they hit the studio with co-producer and engineer Dan Cardinal, they had decided the overall direction and opted to primarily record live, trusting one another more than ever after all of this time and making Goodbye even more special in the moment. They were all on the same page.
Channeling their experiences, this undeniable energy underlines the first single “Letters From The War Of Love And Loss.” Delicate acoustic guitar entwine with a soulful vocal performance and a jazz-y piano solo. Still, their boisterous knack for a sing-a-long refrain takes the spotlight.
“It’s one of the more jovial tracks on the record,” Griffin goes on. “The phrase ‘Letters From The War Of Love And Loss’ had stuck with me for a long time. It’s a communal song that we hope the audience would want to join in and sing along with us. This is our party tune.”
On the other end of the spectrum, “Knuckle” rustles up airy guitar rife with western soundtrack-style tension as the beat simmers in the background beneath hypnotic harmonies.
“It’s an exploration of the idea you need an audience as an artist,” reveals Max. “A lot of my favorite painters revered solitude and the space within the studio. You’re creating the whole opus to escape from everybody, including yourself. It’s an opportunity to get out of your own way and channel something else.”
Then, there’s “In Deep.” Max’s deftly plucked banjo rings out through this dyed-in-the-wool love letter sent straight from the heart.
“It’s just a love song for my soon-to-be wife,” affirms Sean. “Through everybody’s combined hearts, it took on a different level of energy.”
“Vivid Dream” hinges on a head-nodding groove before a bluesy electric guitar lick kicks in, embracing the band’s rock ‘n’ roll inclinations wholeheartedly evocative of their commitment to pushing forward.
“It was a natural progression,” Griffin notes. “Why don’t we put an amp on the acoustic guitar and see what it sounds like? The record ebbs and flows between soft songs that are more akin to what we used to do and more rocking songs with pretty good grit to them.”
Echoing raw emotion, “At Least I Know It’s True” teems with longing and remorse in quaking vocal delivery uplifted by sparse acoustic guitar.
“The chorus could be a reflection of someone pacing around and waiting for another person to come home perhaps after an argument,” Griffin shares. “Eventually, the song quiets, and the person comes home.”
It’s been quite a journey for The Ghost Of Paul Revere. In 2011, they delivered a signature sound evocative of folk, bluegrass, rock, country, and Americana unlike anything else, which they perfected across various full-length LPs and EPs. Additionally, they canvased the country with The Avett Brothers, The Revivalists, Old Crow Medicine Show, Trampled By Turtles, Jamestown Revival, The Dead South, Railroad Earth, and The Infamous Stringdusters. Acclaimed by Billboard, Boston Globe, and The Boot, their “Ballad of the 20th Maine” even became the official State Ballad of Maine as designated by Governor Janet Mills. Meanwhile, they built Ghostland into a festival brand of its own, running eight years strong as of 2022.
Now at another crossroads of the journey, The Ghost Of Paul Revere closes the curtain with Goodbye.
“Goodbye is a very dynamic snapshot,” Sean leaves off. “In a lot of ways, it feels grown up to me, but we’re still the same musicians and people we’ve always been. So, I hope you resonate with it in your own right.”
“I hope listeners love the songs and want to keep listening to them for as long as they’ve got ears,” smiles Griffin. “I do think it is a good moment in time for us. I hope the whole body of work shows you the journey we’ve been on from where we started to how we got here. We took a lot of chances and integrated different types of music and instruments, but the core has been there since 2011. That core is we care about the songs, their quality, and singing on them with as much passion as possible. I hope Goodbye shows that a group of friends can go out in the world, sing those songs, and be rewarded for it. Maybe it inspires other people to take a chance and realize creating can be a really wonderful thing to do. It has been for us.”
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Pixie & The Partygrass Boys
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PIXIE AND THE PARTYGRASS BOYS MAY BE FAR FROM THEIR HUMBLE BEGINNINGS, BUT THEY STILL DON'T TAKE THEMSELVES TOO SERIOUSLY. WHAT BEGAN AS A GROUP OF SKI BUMS PLAYING HOUSE PARTIES IN THE COTTONWOOD CANYONS OF SALT LAKE CITY HAS EVOLVED INTO A NATIONALLY TOURING BAND THAT ALWAYS AIMS TO HAVE THE MOST FUN POSSIBLE.
ALONG WITH THE SKILL AND EXPERTISE THAT COMES FROM NEARLY A DECADE OF PERFORMING TOGETHER, THEY BRING THE ENERGY OF CLOSING WEEKEND AT YOUR FAVORITE SKI RESORT TO THE STAGE. THEY HAVE CAPTIVATED AUDIENCES ACROSS THE NATION WITH THEIR UNIQUE BLEND OF HEARTFELT SONGWRITING, HIGH VELOCITY INSTRUMENTAL EXCELLENCE, SILLY OUTFITS, AND SING-ALONG ANTHEMS.
PIXIE AND THE PARTYGRASS BOYS INVITE THE AUDIENCE INTO THEIR WORLD EVERY TIME THEY TAKE THE STAGE, HOPING TO SHARE A PIECE OF THE MAGIC THEY'VE FOUND ON THE MOUNTAIN TOPS AND IN THE DESERT CANYONS OF THEIR UTAH HOME.
PIXIE AND THE PARTYGRASS BOYS HAVE BEEN TOURING EXTENSIVELY SINCE THE RELEASE OF THEIR 2018 DEBUT EP "UTAH MADE," BECOMING A FIVE-YEAR FIXTURE AT WINTERWONDERGRASS AS WELL AS GRACING THE STAGES OF HIGH SIERRA MUSIC FESTIVAL, GEM AND JAM, DELFEST, JAM CRUISE, HANGTOWN, SAWTOOTH VALLEY GATHERING, BOURBON AND BEYOND, AND COUNTLESS VENUES ACROSS THE USA. THEY HAVE SUPPORTED SUCH PRESTIGIOUS ACTS AS BILLY STRINGS, THE INFAMOUS STRINGDUSTERS, THE BROTHERS COMATOSE, AND LAKE STREET DIVE.
THEY RECENTLY SIGNED ON WITH RECORD LABEL AMERICANA VIBES AND ARE EAGERLY AWAITING THE RELEASE OF THEIR 4TH ALBUM ON MAY 19TH. "THE CHICKEN COOP SESSIONS: VOL. 1," HARKENS BACK TO THEIR ORIGINS, PAYING HOMAGE TO THE COVERS THAT BROUGHT THEM IN TOGETHER FOR THOSE CANYON HOUSE PARTIES SO MANY YEARS AGO.
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The Sweet Lillies
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Those defining traits are given life by the trio of musicians making up The Sweet Lillies - Julie Gussaroff, Becca Bisque, and Dustin Rohleder - who have combined their individual strengths together to deliver powerful narratives of life in song.
With their acoustic string-band lineup of guitar, viola, and upright bass given flight by ethereal, vocal harmonies that float like a dream, the Sweet Lillies' music has an old-time soul with a forward-looking eye.
The Sweet Lillies have incorporated all of their cumulative life-experiences into their music, their songwriting, and their artistry, crafting an uncommonly-beautiful style they have christened “String-Americana” - a nod to the band’s all-encompassing musical tastes and willingness to experiment with genres.
As Gussaroff explains, “Some musicians learn from teachers, some learn from family members, and some are self-taught. Some musicians are classically trained, some come up through folk, some draw from multiple springs, from hip hop through pop to bebop. In the Lillies' all of these skill sets are valuable, relevant, and appreciated.”
The Sweet Lillies are built upon their collaborative ideals and are always ready to share a stage or develop a project with any musicians who share the same no-holds-barred creative approach. This has made each one of their inventive, energetic live-shows a wholly unique event, as setlists are changed on the fly, songs are given new life and shape, and guests are always welcome to join in the creative explosion.
Those on-stage partnerships create a space for incorporating instruments, arrangements, and styles that aren't necessarily typical of the genre, but that help create a rich, compelling sound that defies easy categorization. Over the years they have been joined onstage by a number of legendary performers including, Sam Bush, George Porter Jr., Peter Rowan, Sally Van Meter, Andy Hall from the Infamous Stringdusters, Kyle Hollingsworth and Jason Hahn from the String Cheese Incident, Jennifer Hartswick, and Natalie Cressman from the Trey Anastasio Band, among many others.
Andy Thorn from Leftover Salmon who has sat in on many of those live adventures says, “It’s always a joy to play with the Sweet Lillies. Over the years, I’ve seen them evolve from a folk-and-bluegrass group into a genre-bending powerhouse. Today, at a Lillies show, you’ll hear everything from their beautiful, soulful originals, to creative reinventions of your favorite 90s hip-hop tracks. They’re always ready to have fun - on stage and off - without losing an ounce of their professionalism.”
The Sweet Lillies were born from Gussaroff’s desire to form a band in which each member would be an equal participant in terms of songwriting, singing, and creative input. After years of accompanying other artists, serving as a side player, and writing songs for others, multi-instrumentalist and classical trained vocalist Gussaroff wanted to establish a true musical-collective that would highlight the best qualities of all involved. In 2014 Gussaroff met Bisque, who was a classically trained violist. The two found an immediate and deep musical connection and The Sweet Lillies were born. In 2017, at a campground jam at the Hangtown Ball, they heard guitarist Rohleder. That night the three played for what they remembered as, “Ten magical hours.” The following year in 2018, Rohleder joined The Sweet Lillies full-time. Most recently, Jones Maynard has come on board on drums, completing Gussaroff’s vision.
Since forming in 2013 The Sweet Lillies have released three albums, 2016’s self-titled release, and 2018’s A Lighter Hue produced by Leftover Salmon’s Vince Herman. Their third and latest album, Common Ground, produced by Railroad Earth’s Tim Carbone, was released in 2021. The band’s newest release, Equality, was produced by Grammy-award winner Chris Pandolfi of The Infamous Stringdusters and will be out on Americana Vibes On June 2, 2023.
Equality is an intrepid collection of songs that fully represents the current and evolved sound of the band. The instrumentation is primarily what you will hear at a live show with the exception of Pandolfi on banjo for a few select tracks and Kyle Hollingsworth of The String Cheese Incident on keys. The record truly sounds like a live Sweet Lillies experience, with Jason Hann of The String Cheese Incident filling in on drums for the entirety of the album. Powerful rapping next to layered vocals and instrumental solos are only one of the aspects that give this album an original sound.
Through the recording process, Pandolfi challenged the band to find their more ‘savage lillies’ side which is present throughout the music. Each song is a unique composition that blends into the concept of the album which is Equality. Social Justice, self exploration, and evolution of the spirit are the guiding feelings of this new record.
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Wood Belly
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Honest, soulful, and bearing a sound all their own, Wood Belly sprouted from the roots of bluegrass to notch a unique home in the broader Americana scene and continues to captivate audiences across the country en route. With an unrelenting dedication to original songwriting, harmony singing, and artful arrangements, the quintet is forging a sound that is based in newgrass and flavored with alt-country, rock, and just enough jam to glue it all together.
Wood Belly established themselves as a staple of the Colorado and national acoustic music scene by winning the 2018 Telluride Bluegrass festival band competition and being nominated for an IBMA award. Bluegrass Today said “Even now, it’s safe to determine that they’re ones to watch...the freshness and vitality they bear elevates their standing and assures their status as instant contenders”. That freshness continues today as the band takes on a new shape. With a restructuring of the rhythm section, Wood Belly has opened up a world of dynamic range and dimension to be explored.
Adding a drummer was a bold move for a band rooted in Bluegrass tradition, but a creative and adaptive musician like Dylan French was an easy call. The band has always strived to play to the song and give each composition just what it needs, which is why French is a perfect fit. He is well versed in a variety of styles and has quickly made his own imprint on the Wood Belly sound.
Singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Brennan Mackey had been on the band's radar for a long time. Having already carved out a following in Denver and beyond with his own indie rock band King Cardinal, his writing, singing, and bass playing bring a fresh color palette to Wood Belly's already distinguished sound.
Since its formation, the band has played an ever-expanding list of great festivals including the Telluride Bluegrass Festival, Winter WonderGrass, Northwest String Summit, Charm City Bluegrass Festival, Palisade Bluegrass and Roots, Sol Grass, the Durango Bluegrass Meltdown, The Ogden Music Festival, Rhythms on the Rio, the Keystone Bluegrass and Beer Festival, Rapidgrass, Tico Time Bluegrass Festival, and many more.
Wood Belly has shared bills with The Infamous Stringdusters, Del McCoury Band, The Steeldrivers, Billy Strings, Molly Tuttle, The Lil' Smokies, Front Country, Wood & Wire, Trout Steak Revival, Steel Wheels, and so many others.
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Morsel
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“Morsel is a five-piece jamgrass band hailing from Denver, CO that mixes classic bluegrass sensibilities nuanced with a more traditional rock edge, resting in a warm balance of old-school string dusting and nu-school improvisation. Since forming in CU Boulder back in 2016, the band has cultivated a robust following throughout the Front Range, born from sets at pubs and breweries and growing exponentially to headline shows at legendary venues, such as The Boulder Theater and The Fox Theater, and to share the stage with nationally touring artists, such as Yonder Mountain String Band, Horseshoes and Hand Grenades, Molly Tuttle, the Kitchen Dwellers, and many more. Morsel’s debut self-titled studio album (produced by Chris Pandolfi of the Infamous Stringdusters) released in September of 2021 illustrates the band’s powerful songwriting that is its true soul: a cornucopia of catchy hooks, shimmering melodies, and thoughtful lyrics all delivered in a package that will make the most ardent bluegrass skeptic a believer.”
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Broke Mountain Bluegrass Band
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Contact: Adrian Chacon
Email: adrian@regimemusicgroup.com
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