Blackgrass

With its driving electric upright bass, hot-blooded gypsy violin, rock banjo, and jazz influenced percussion, BLACKGRASS was an oddity in a world of clearly defined musical genres. It's an uncommon mixture: some of its fans call it jazz grass; others have nicknamed the sound "banjo rock," "postapunkalyptic," and... "a little weird." They released one album, titled 13, in March of 2003, and that was it, aside from a tour ending in April of 2004.

With its driving electric upright bass, hot-blooded gypsy violin, rock banjo, and jazz influenced percussion, BLACKGRASS was an oddity in a world of clearly defined musical genres. It's an uncommon mixture: some of its fans call it jazz grass; others have nicknamed the sound "banjo rock," "postapunkalyptic," and... "a little weird." They released one album, titled 13, in March of 2003, and that was it, aside from a tour ending in April of 2004. A zealous and spirited following packed BLACKGRASS shows... any performance brought together an eclectic group of fans who enjoyed the band's curious mixture of dark lyrics and live-wire instrumentation.

Scott Trowbridge, the group's lead vocalist and bass player quipped: "We're a little like Tom Waits gone alternative country." Prior to experimenting with multiple genres, Scott cut his musical teeth listening to bands like Fugazi and Helmet and playing with hardcore-punk groups like Oscar and Sunday School. Joshua Hall, the band's banjo player grew up in a family of wall-to-wall, Cumberland Plateau bluegrass musicians and went on to collaborate as a drummer with different rock bands. Roman Karpynec, whose roots are in rock and jazz, is also an actor and filmmaker whose film debuts at the 2003 Valleyfest. Finally, Christian Lange, BLACKGRASS' violinist, adds a Latin /Eastern European flavor to the mix.

From Santiago, Chile, Christian blends Latin rock influences like Manu Chao and Ozomatli with "my all-time violin heros like Stephane Grappelli and Jean Luc Ponte." "Crooked Legs" Walford has played many types of RAWK. Including the band Sunday School which he and Scott had been in. He had been a contributing song writer prior to joining Blackgrass. copied from the Blackgrass website, www.americansinner.com User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License and may also be available under the GNU FDL..