Legend has it, one of the perks of writing for a blog is that you can speak in the fan’s voice. Well, today I’m taking that liberty to hide the objectivity under my Unabomber hoodie for a chat with a band that has rapidly grown into a personal favorite, Trampled By Turtles.
Behind the muscle of the its most recent pair of albums, the latter a nod to their hometown in Duluth and its precursor Trouble, Trampled By Turtles chipped out a niche for their band as modern string bellwether. With the their terrapin stampede ambushing listeners on songs like Ceiling Slide, The Darkness and the Light, Empire, Stranger, and Valley, they push the boundaries of acoustic music by incorporating diverse elements such as high energy bluegrass (“punkgrass” if you must), thoughtful narrative country, distinctive vocals, and squirrely chemistry.
With a massive Western US tour afoot and what sounds like it may be their best album yet coming in April, it looks like a good time to get these guys on the radar screen. Today, we catch up with guitarist and lead vocalist Dave Simonett to learn more about TxT.
Hidden Track: For starters, I wanted to say I was bummed to miss your last New York City show; ended up stuck at work late. I recall seeing that you were doing a panel discussion about the current state of bluegrass before the show. Could you share some of your thoughts on that topic here?
Dave Simonett: Actually, that didn’t end up happening. I do think bluegrass – and I use that term loosely here – is in an interesting place right now. There are a lot of people taking that old instrumentation and style and doing some innovative stuff with it. I feel like there are two camps here: the traditional bluegrass crowd, which tries to preserve the traditional catalog, etc. – sometimes to the point of musical militancy; and second, a group of musicians borrowing the style to create their own original music. This music is so easily accessible nowadays with the internet that even five guys as far away from Appalachia as Minnesota can get into it. READ ON for more…
Pizza Box is Danny’s first album on the ATO label and the release features guest spots by label mates Dave Matthews and Rashawn Ross.
