i subscribe to ‘no depression’ magazine, which is a great roots/americana music publication. i highly recommend it. i get the hard copy version, but i am also signed up for their email list. i get a couple each week, and one of those is their review of new releases. a few weeks back i found one with a band called ‘mighty poplar’. they sounded interesting, so i grabbed it.

in a nutshell, this is somewhat of a bluegrass ‘supergroup’, although none of these artists currently hail from traditional bluegrass bands. noam pikelny (banjo) and chris eldridge (guitar) are in the punch brothers group, greg garrison (bass) is in leftover salmon, alex hargreaves (fiddle) tours with billy strings, and lead vocalist and mandolinist andrew marlin is the frontman for watchhouse (formerly mandolin orange).

if you are familiar with the folk and bluegrass festival scene, you will likely recognize all of those bands, and as such these artists typically cross each other’s paths on the festival circuits. more importantly, they often jam with each other – either onstage or in the backstage sessions that are so frequent during these festivals.

they started to build a camaraderie and a text group chat, but finding time to get together to record some music proved difficult over the years, due to their conflicting travel schedules. and then covid hit. they discussed songs to record and arrangements all online or in their group chats. they chose not to write any of their own material, but instead focus on either older standards or bluegrass interpretations of songs they liked in common.

once ready to go, they did a quick 3 day recording session in nashville in october of 2020. for whatever reason, they did not get around to mixing and mastering it until last year, and they put it out a few weeks ago. i have made my way through the material 3-4 times, and it has really grown on me. they have a real chemistry and respect for the genre. (the band title comes from a live recording they admire of bill monroe, where he introduces a song and explains that it has been ‘mighty poplar in these parts’.)

somehow they have found a way to tour together, and they head out on the road next month. we have just recently discovered they will playing at one of my favorite local venues in september, and i am sure i will be there. please check them out.

nickel creek, ‘celebrants’

either in that same article, or some other source at the same time, i read about nickel creek’s new album, ‘celebrants’. they haven’t released any new material (or toured together) since 2014, so i decided to check it out. i was not quite prepared for what i was about to hear. my recommendation here is to stream a little bit before you commit. i don’t necessarily mean this in a bad way, but it is not what i was expecting. it is brilliant, though. if you are thinking this is some variant on a bluegrass recording, it is not. it is three exceedingly talented musicians playing traditional bluegrass acoustic instruments in a very progressive way. the writing, arrangements, playing and vocals are all very well done. it definitely requires concentrated listening. there aren’t really any toe tappers here. i will give you a sample below. they are also touring soon.