Cole Quest and The City Pickers are a group of New York City musicians connected by friendship and a love of bluegrass. Cole Quest, grandson of the folk icon Woody Guthrie, has brought together a collection of eclectic pickers who have gained recognition on the local scene. Performing both Quest’s original tunes as well as traditional favorites, The City Pickers bring their special brand of high-spirited talent to the stage, with up-beat, knee slapping energy and a high lonesome sound that’ll leave you wanting more.
After recording at NYC’s renowned Magic Shop studio and releasing their debut album in 2017, they released their first EP, Self [En]Titled, last year with the help of Grammy®-winning producer Steve Rosenthal and Grammy®-winning engineer, Michael Graves.
Recorded in January of 2020, in person at Brooklyn’s Conveyor Studios by recording engineer Jason Borisoff, and produced by Rosenthal, the 6 track EP, Self [En]Titled, contains witty originals and crucial covers for the modern listener. The core band resembles a slightly modified take on the traditional 5 piece bluegrass band, consisting of dobro (Cole Quest), guitar (Christian Apuzzo), banjo (Mike Mulhollan), harmonica (Matheus Verardino), and bass (Larry Cook). The album also features the likes of the incredibly talented Sam Reider (organ and wurlitzer), Sean Trishka (drums), and Erik Alvar (bass).
Today Glide is excited to premiere the video for the EP’s original instrumental tune as well, “7-11 / Foggy Mountain Rock,” which incorporates an important homage to the bluegrass legends, Flatt and Scruggs (don’t forget Uncle Josh too), with their tune “Foggy Mountain Rock.” Indeed, what makes this tune especially fun is the way it seems rooted in tradition while also grabbing onto a more progressive bluegrass sound that brings the kind of fast-paced rock bravado that has made fellow pickers like Billy Strings explode in popularity. There is a high level of energy throughout the tune and the band adds their own style with the inclusion of Matheus Verardino’s raucous harmonica playing and Sam Reider laying down some funky organ playing. Combine this with damn fine picking and you have an impressively explosive bluegrass number that would surely ignite a full on dance party at a summer music festival. The animated video adds to the playful vibes of the song.
Cole Quest describes the inspiration behind the song:
“This song is part original composition and part traditional Bluegrass tune. I originally wrote the melody for 7-11 as a Dobro instrumental. Over time, I realized that I wanted my first original dobro instrumental composition to incorporate an homage to the first dobro player that inspired me, Uncle Josh Graves. Naturally, Foggy Mountain Rock fell right into place. One night late at a bluegrass jam, I introduced the song to our banjo player, Mike Mulhollan. He immediately took to it and made the track his own with some very expressive ways of displaying the melody. When we went into the studio to record the EP, it dawned on me that this track, while originally focused on the dobro, had been adopted by the banjo and that the arrangement of the track needed to reflect that. As I listened to the finished product, I realized a vision for this song had finally been completed. Enjoy!”
WATCH:
3 Responses
Love it! Love ’em all! What a great video.
Such great energy!
This is great