The Infamous Stringdusters are doing something right. They’ve earned critical acclaim, from their inception, awards and nominations aplenty, their own successful music festival, their own record label and a quickly growing and enthusiastic fan base across the country. All achieved by simple word of mouth, no fancy marketing plan, just plain, hard work, touring hard, and the hard playing of five stellar musicians. This effort has put them on a trajectory as quite possibly the fastest growing acoustic band in America.
A collective of five musicians who each left successful slots in various touring bands, the Stringdusters, are essentially a supergroup. The band’s members hold tenures alongside luminaries like Dolly Parton, Earl Scruggs, Levon Helm, and the Emmitt-Nershi Band, to name a few. But the members of The Infamous Stringdusters felt a kindred spirit, and formed simply to play Stringduster music. They sound like no one else, combining virtuosic chops on traditional bluegrass instruments, with an ethos on pushing the genre forward.
Having toured the country with their collective pasts, playing every bluegrass festival, folk club and acoustic listening room there is, the band is extremely well versed in the history of the music. They do not seek to shun bluegrass, but expand on the possibilities set forth by Flatt & Scruggs, John Hartford, and Bill Monroe. It’s a musical style they’ve dubbed High Country. “We play ‘high country’ music,” says bass player Travis Book, “more than bluegrass, not quite country, always progressive and energetic. High Country is our genre, as much as it’s our mindset and the name of our new label.” The High Country mindset also comes in to play beyond the music, as the bandmembers take any chance they can to explore the mountains they traverse on their annual Ski Tour and cast lines into rivers surrounding their festival appearances.
Spend any time with the Stringdusters and you’ll quickly see the collective pot boiling over with creativity. You have strong songwriters in each band member, plus guitarist Andy Falco who, when not flatpicking his Collings, can be found shredding electric guitar in Joss Stone’s band, banjo player Chris Pandolfi who was the first ever principle on the instrument at Berklee, and a dobro player-extraordinaire in Andy Hall, an IBMA award winner who is consistently named one of the top players on his instrument.
This combination is perfectly showcased on the band’s latest release We’ll Do It Live (yes, titled after the ridiculous Bill O’Reilly clip). Their fourth album, and first proper live record, features 13 fan favorites honed from near-constant touring—captured here in concerts at New York’s Bowery Ballroom, plus stops in Burlington, Vermont, Washington, DC, and their adopted hometown of Charlottesville, Virginia. The Stringdusters are taking improvised string band music to new places, combining musicianship, songwriting and experimental performance. The album features new versions of old songs, B-sides and brand new music, all with the unique energy of the band and its fans, together in some of the country's best venues. We’ll Do It Live is the first release on the Stringdusters own High Country Recordings. After three albums on venerable bluegrass label Sugar Hill, the band is following their vision of creative freedom for their own music, and already at work on a new album for 2012.
As We’ll Do It Live shows, a Stringdusters performance is ecstatic, with contagious energy flowing between the band and crowd. At each stop you’ll see the band smiling, having fun, and relaxed, while focusing on the music, playing off each other as momentum builds. This energy has taken the band on an amazing year, from the literal high point of bluegrass at the annual festival in Telluride, to San Francisco’s urban music Mecca, The Outside Lands Festival (sharing the bill with artists like Arcade Fire and Deadmau5), to a sold out crowd at Red Rocks, and nearly 150 other packed theaters, clubs and festival stages all over the country.
It’s this hard touring and hard playing that has allowed the band’s business to grow in a very organic way, with The Infamous Stringdusters’ name spreading by word of mouth, or ear to ear. It doesn’t hurt to earn a Grammy nomination, or win multiple awards from the IBMA , but it mostly happens from show to show. This support has allowed The Stringdusters to start their own music festival, called “The Festy Experience,” held over a long October weekend in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia. In two years they’ve brought musicians from divergent circles including Brett Dennen, Josh Ritter, Toubab Krewe, and David Grisman, and combined it with their passion for the outdoors in the festival site’s mountain backdrop.
At The Festy Experience, you’ll find bass player Travis Book leading a ride up a mountain bike trail through the hills, while other band members join in a campfire jam in the wooded, sprawling campsites. You might go for a nearby trail run next to the band’s manager, or grab a beer at the onsite brewery while watching fiddle player Jeremy Garrett gather friends and family for an impromptu gospel set. If it sounds idyllic, you might not be surprised that the festival is growing and profitable in it’s first two years, but know that’s quite a feat in today’s crowded festival market. It’s a testament again to the band following their own path, putting on an event that truly reflects them, one that they would want to attend themselves if they weren’t already the host.
As the Stringdusters prepare for their next chapter, they find themselves juggling projects most bands would let someone else take care of. They’re in the recording studio exploring new directions, planning a three day camping festival, running their own record label, and crafting an expanding, mind-blowing stage show. When it seems like too much, one must go back to the music, where one listen to a track like “No More To Leave You Behind” is all it takes to know that this band is something special. Not only does the music speak for itself, but the success the band is creating speaks volumes on their willingness to put in the hard work to create something unique and lasting. For any further proof, simply venture to an Infamous Stringdusters concert to see the connection with their fans already paying massive dividends.