Compass Records has announced the signing of bluegrass group The Bankesters to their roster of artists. The label will re-release the band’s current album, Looking Forward, to their distribution network on May 28, with a new band project to follow this Fall.
The group consists of parents Phil and Dorene Bankester, with siblings Melissa, Emily and Alysha, and Melissa’s husband Kyle Triplett.
The evolution of the group has been carefully managed, ensuring that the girls had both a professional and a personal life, and their three albums have showed dramatic leaps in maturity, each in turn. The young Bankester ladies have become fine pickers and singers, with able support from their parents, and a spouse.
Papa Phil shared a few thoughts…
“We are thrilled to join the Compass Records family. We first met Alison and Garry at IBMA’s World Of Bluegrass last fall, and they both impressed us as great people who would be fun to work with as well as experienced professionals who could help us continue to grow further musically and professionally. We’re extremely grateful for all the support and encouragement we’ve had from Tom T. and Dixie Hall & Blue Circle Records with our last two projects, as well as the skills and dedication of Stephen Mougin who produced and engineered the last one.
We’re finalizing material selections for the new recording and excited about working with Alison Brown.”
We’ll certainly look forward to their first Compass project later this year.
