Bluegrass Beyond Borders: Blue Lass brings British class

Blue Lass, a British trio consisting of Abbey Thomas on mandolin, Holly Wheeldon on acoustic guitar, and Ruth Eliza on clawhammer banjo, first began playing music together in 2022 at the Sore Fingers Summer School, a bluegrass and old-time music camp in the UK. In fact, they had known each other for several years, having become acquainted through the local festival scene. “When we decided to arrange some songs at the camp, we realized we absolutely loved working together,” Thomas relates. “It just felt really easy, fun, and cohesive very quickly.”

The members originate from different parts of England. “We’re actually all spread out pretty well around the country,” Thomas says. “We’ve got one member each in Lancaster, Leeds, and Cornwall.”

“I’ve lived in Lancaster for the last five years, in the Northwest of England, just south of the Lake District,” Eliza adds. “I spent 13 years in London before that, but I grew up in a small town in the Midlands, which is a big influence on the single from our new EP, Between The Coal Mines.”

Wheeldon grew up in rural Bedfordshire, but now finds herself studying in Leeds in the North of England. 

“I just moved back two days ago to where I’m from in the far south-west of Cornwall,” Thomas adds. 

She provides an added backstory as well. “Maybe it’d be nice to know a bit about us as people too,” she suggested. “Perhaps knowing that we’re a band who cannot travel without several sharing-size chocolate bars is a good start?”

“Or that on long drives, our musical guilty pleasures are Taylor Swift and Christina Perri,” Eliza added.

“Ruth does this great thing of finding her song for the summer, and then it becomes the soundtrack to months of driving between gigs for us,” Thomas agreed. “It’s a good thing we all love each others’ music taste!”

In that regard, Blue Lass imbues any number of sounds and styles in their music. “As much as we love the traditional bluegrass, for several reasons we don’t sound quite like the traditional bluegrass band,” Thomas explains. “For starters, we have the clawhammer banjo! But then on top of that, we’re also inspired by lots of contemporary artists. All of us love both bluegrass and old-time music, on top of also having interests in British and some European folk music. So with all of that in mind, I’d say we sound like a contemporary songwriter bluegrass band, with a big dollop of old-time music within several songs.”

That said, they can also claim a variety of contemporary influences as well. “One of the first songs we arranged together was by Molly Tuttle, so I suppose that’s the best place to start,” Thomas continued. “I particularly like both John Reischman and Joe K Walsh for their interesting, tasteful mandolin improvisation and tune writing. At the moment, I’m listening to lots of Maddie Witler’s playing within both Della Mae and The Lonely Heartstring Band, and then also the Henhouse Prowlers, Mile Twelve, and Billy Strings. I love intricate, interesting arrangements, and all of these bands tick that box brilliantly for me! I’m also a big British folk fan outside of bluegrass, and last year, I completed my bachelors degree in folk music, so I draw on that and my tutors for inspiration.”

Eliza shared her own inspirations. “I am a huge fan of Allison de Groot,” she said. “I would say she is my absolute banjo hero. And her duo with Tatiana Hargreaves is just magical. My other contemporary influences include The Slocan Ramblers. After seeing them at Didmarton two years ago, I got pretty hooked, and learned a few of their songs and tunes. My current obsession is Bronwyn Keith-Hynes. I’ve learned a few songs from her new album. I am also big on the old old-time sound. It was my way into this music really. Ola Belle Reed, Tommy Jarrell, Kyle Creed, Fred Cockerham, and Cousin Emmy.”

Wheeldon explains that she started playing bluegrass at the age of 13. “I was influenced by loads of the great UK bands on the scene at the time,” she recalls. “The first festival I went to, I saw the Jaywalkers, the Carrivick Sisters, Cup O’Joe, and the Often Herd. Another massive influence for the band was the all-female bluegrass band, Midnight Skyracer, who were touring just before we formed.”

Thus far, the band has appeared throughout England, Wales, and Scotland, frequenting the festival scene while interspersing those appearances with one-off gigs as well. “We’ve performed at many UK bluegrass festivals, including Didmarton, Moniaive and Gower, Crossover Festival, and Purbeck Valley Folk Festival,” Thomas notes. “We also went to France in the summers of both ’23 and ’24 to play Bluegrass in La Roche. And last year we played Herbe Bleue. We’ve also got big plans to tour next year, bringing the new record with us. So watch this space…!”

Eliza concurs. “We plan to tour more in Europe next year,” she suggests. “We would love the chance to perform in the US one day!”

They’ve also had their chances for special encounters. “We’ve shared both lineups and stages with some brilliant bands, including East Nash Grass, Cisco & the Racecars, Flats & Sharps, The Often Herd, and the Slo County Stumblers,” Thomas adds.

Wheeldon agrees. “We’ve also had the opportunity to play with lots of great fiddle and bass players when we wanted to have a full band sound, rather than a trio,” she mentions. “They include Jeri Foreman of Jeri & Ruth, a duo which includes our banjo player Ruth, Steph Doe of Pig Society, and Jay Bradberry of the Jaywalkers, among others.”

At the same time, the group claims to have achieved a fair amount of homegrown success entirely on their own. “We’ve had a really good reception within the UK, with a really loyal fanbase across the scene, which is really lovely,” Thomas says.

“We also have a growing fanbase in Europe, with people from France, Germany, Switzerland, and Sweden buying the EP,” Eliza says. “And indeed, they’re wearing our merch! We have some Blue Lass baseball caps! Those are brand new and will be available on Bandcamp really soon.”

In the meantime, the group boasts a new EP, the aforementioned, Skylines & Coal Mines. It comprises three original songs, one of which is an instrumental, as well as a cover of Long Gone by Reno & Smiley. “Skylines & Coal Mines explores the feeling of home and the emotions we experience about it, while contemplating the differences between how our lives can play out in different environments, and over different periods of our timelines,” Thomas explains. “You can find this to purchase on Bandcamp, or it’s available to stream on Spotify.”

She adds that Blue Lass tends to put their emphasis on original material. “We love the feeling of bringing a new song to life. Holly and Ruth are both brilliant lyricists, whereas I prefer to write instrumentals. We love the feeling of working together to create new pieces, whether that’s through intricate arrangement details, strong vocal harmonies, or something else entirely.”

“I love that we do a mix of both covers and originals,” Eliza says. “I love writing songs, and being able to arrange, perform, and record them with Abbey and Holly is just great. Arranging is such a rewarding part of the process and really transforms the songs. For example, we are working on some new material at the moment, including a new song called The Estuary. Abbey added a lovely mandolin harmony to the main banjo line and it really became the main hook of the song.”

Not surprisingly, each of the musicians have their own theories as to why bluegrass enjoys international popularity. 

“It’s the combination of catchy songs and tunes with fairly simple foundations and a formulaic structure, along with the culture of jamming,” Eliza suggests. “In fact, having that shared obsession with jamming and a common base repertoire means you can travel across Europe and still be able to speak the same musical language.”

“I love the sound of bluegrass,” Wheeldon maintains, “but I think the thing that keeps the music going is the community and the culture around jamming and playing. It’s a wonderful thing to get together with friends and surprise each other — and sometimes yourself — with the music you can make.”

“It’s also one of very few genres in which we have a chance to meet, interact with, learn from, and even play music with our heroes,” Thomas declares. “That’s really unusual and such an amazing and inspirational experience to have available.”

Clearly, the musicians have allowed themselves to fully explore the opportunities that they’ve each encountered.

“You can find us on social media (Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, TikTok) under @BlueLassMusic,” Thomas concludes. “Ruth and I also have other projects too, which you can find through our socials, @rutheliza and @abbeythomasmusician. If you like our music or our thoughts we’d love for you to give us a follow, and we hope we can cross paths with you all at a gig someday!”

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About the Author

Lee Zimmerman

Lee Zimmerman has been a writer and reviewer for the better part of the past 20 years. He writes for the following publications — No Depression, Goldmine, Country Standard TIme, Paste, Relix, Lincoln Center Spotlight, Fader, and Glide. A lifelong music obsessive and avid collector, he firmly believes that music provides the soundtrack for our lives and his reverence for the artists, performers and creative mind that go into creating their craft spurs his inspiration and motivation for every word hie writes.