Talking Bluegrass with Greensky!
New England get’s a bluegrass music fix this weekend. Two music festivals take place in Massachusetts, both featuring prominent national and local touring bluegrass bands and musicians. In Western Mass, the FreshGrass Festival takes place at Mass Moca, Friday through Sunday, featuring such acts as Old Salt Union, Parsonsfield, Old Crow Medicine Show and Rosanne Cash, to name but a few. Then, Saturday and Sunday, The New England Festy takes place at Prowse Farm and features sets from acts such as The Infamous StringDusters, Fruition and Greensky Bluegrass. It certainly makes for a tough decision for New England bluegrass music fans.
Michigan based Greensky Bluegrass will also perform on Saturday night in Port Chester, New York at The Capitol Theater, then starting a run through New England at The New England Festy on Sunday that includes the State Theater in Portland, Maine on Thurs, the 22nd and a two night stand Higher Ground in Burlington, VT on Friday and Saturday, the 23rd and 24th.
Greensky Bluegrass New England Tourdates:
Saturday, 9/17 — The Capitol Theater, Port Chester, New York. Showtime 8 P.M.
Tickets: $25 — $35, $280 for presidential booth seating.
Sunday, 9/18 — The New England Festy, Canton, Mass, Prowse Farm. Noon — 10:30 P.M.
Tickets: $45 for single day tickets, $75 for two day passes.
Thursday, 9/22 — The State Theater, Portland, Maine. Showtime, 8 P.M.
Tickets: $18 General Admission tickets.
Friday & Saturday, 9/23 & 24, Higher Ground Ballroom, Burlington, VT. Showtime 8 P.M.
Tickets: $20 General Admission tickets.
All Greensky Bluegrass tour dates here.
Mike Bont of Greensky Bluegrass (banjo) took a few moments out of his schedule to speak with The Live Beat by phone about the band & it’s new recording, Shouted, Written Down & Quoted — due to be released on the 23rd of September — the festival performing experience and how the band occupies its time while traveling between tour stops.
The Live Beat — Greensky Bluegrass isn’t a traditional bluegrass band, as you blend elements of acoustic rock and percussion — not drumming — into your music. How would you describe your band and it’s sound for a fan who has not heard the band prior to this weekend?
Mike Bont (MB) — “I think if I we’re to describe our sound to somebody, we start by playing a base of bluegrass instruments and we add elements of rock or jazz, singer/songwriter and Americana stuff. We mix a lot of styles together and we do it successfully with out the aid of a drummer.”
The Live Beat — Let’s talk about the new recording — Shouted, Written Down & Quoted — Did the band approach the songwriting differently on this new recording?
(MB) — “I think our approach remained similar to previous albums, although I think what’s prominent in the songwriting is just the growth and maturity of it, of the musicians and the studio process in general.”
Listen to “Looking over” from Shouted, Written Down & Quoted, premiered by Relix Magazine.
Song Premiere: Greensky Bluegrass "Living Over" On September 23 Greensky Bluegrass will release their next studio album…www.relix.com
The Live Beat — Speaking of the studio process, you recorded in two different studios for this recording. Why did the band choose to work that way for this recording and was there a difference between the two studios? Do you think it had an affect on the continuity of the album as a whole?
(MB) — “It was really just about time constraints, we only had a certain amount of time before we started a leg of our fall tour and we didn’t want to limit ourselves to just that one allotment of studio time. And the fact that we were able to let the recording kind of simmer for a couple of months gave us the opportunity to have some second ideas before the songs were set in stone. And to be able to have the opportunity to go for some extra studio time and correct some things that you wanted to change. We had the opportunity to experiment with cool little things that you do’t expect.”
“The atmosphere of the studios were a little bit different. The one down in Asheville, North Carolina was a converted old church, so it had a big, open feel, a break area where you could relax and a bunch of different [recording] booths inside of the rooms. And then the place in Colorado was just like, pretty much a cabin in the middle of nowhere. That was kind of cool though, because when you’re out in the middle of nowhere, all you really have is what you’re doing at the time and there’s not a lot of external influences to take you away from the process.”
“At the first studio we were able to get the majority of tracking done, while at the second it was more just adding harmony vocals and finishing up the bleed vocals. But essentially the tracks were all there, just finishing up a few things helped with the continuity. And the fact that we traveled with our engineer, Glenn Brown and [producer] Steve Berlin came to both sessions helped facilitate in the continuity of the recording.”
The Live Beat — What is your connection to a band like The Infamous Stringdusters? And, having performed on several high profile festivals across the country, and sold out some of the most famous theaters, including Red Rocks Amphitheatre in Colorado, what do you take away from such a performance? How do you compare that experience to that of playing a more intimate club?
Mike Bont (MB) — “We’ve been friends with the Stringdusters for a long time, they’ve been peers and friends of ours and we tend to play a lot of festivals with them.
(MB) — If you want to pick one of the bigger ones, I’d say Telluride Bluegrass Festival is one that brings a lot of us together. And then at venues around the summer, we’ve done some shows with them. The “Jamgrass” community, we’re pretty tight knit group of musicians that go out on tours, so everybody tends to know each other.”
“They’re a little different energy wise. I think they energy in the club is a little more contained and maybe a little more electric. But the experience of a large crowd, the response is so huge and big, ya know? But I’m a fan of both, I myself like the big stage as well as the intimate stage.”
The Live Beat — The band has embarked on a national tour in support of the new recording. What does the band like to do with free time on the road? What is your guilty pleasure, for instance? What do you all find yourself doing (when you’re not sleeping) while on the tour bus? What do you find yourselves listening to while on the road?
(MB) — “I’m a big golfer with a handicap of about 14. And my favorite course in the country is Palmetto Golf Club in Aiken, South Carolina. A lot of us like to listen to music and to get caught up on our favorite Netflix shows. Everybody’s into Narcos right now. I like Jazz, I’m a big Stan Getz, Miles Davis, Coletran, Dave Bruebeck/Paul Desmond kind of guy. And also I like a lot of My Morning Jacket and Jim James, the occasional hip hop album; I’m a big Pharcyde fan. And we do rehearse as well.” (Laughs out loud.)
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