Greensky Bluegrass

photo by J. VanBuhler

Michigan "jamgrass" act Greensky Bluegrass plays the Blind Pig on Thursday, March 4, in a show that will introduce the first in a set of concert recordings by the band.

Rooted in the Kalamazoo area, Greensky Bluegrass has been building a devoted following for its mix of jam rock and bluegrass sounds. And they take their musicianship seriously; the band won the 2006 Telluride Bluegrass Festival Band Competition.The 5-piece band writes a lot of original songs but throws in some unexpected covers as well; a past appearance at The Ark featured Pink Floyd's "Time," among others.

Greensky Bluegrass' latest studio album is “Five Interstates.” But the Blind Pig show is the start of something new: It will mark the release of "All Access: Vol. 1," the first in a projected series of limited-edition concert recordings, featuring the band's usual mix of originals and interesting covers.

“We really just try to make music as a group that sounds and feels right to us”, says mandolin player Paul Hoffman in the band's press materials. “It is nice to know that other people really dig it, too.”

The new album includes nearly 30 songs on a two-disc set from a November 2009 show in Three Rivers. Anders Beck, dobro player for Greensky, is quoted in the press kit as saying, “It’s about the jams and the improvisation. Our live shows are where we are able to give our original songs a life of their own each night. Many of our songs are explored well in this latest show, as many of them stretch over the 10-15 minute mark.” While “green sky” may be the opposite of “blue grass“, the band insists that the name came about as more of a pun than a statement about their music. “Along with the tradition of bluegrass, we all have lots of different musical influences that we bring to the table”, says guitar player Dave Bruzza, “and we somehow wanted to reflect that in our name.”

Watch video of Greensky Bluegrass at the 2008 Rothbury festival here.