Sociograss is a Scottish band whose affinity for stretching the bounds of bluegrass is clearly evident on their new album, the somewhat ironically dubbed Made It All Up. “We’re not really strictly a bluegrass band,” vocalist and fiddler Ben Errington insists. “We like to bring in elements of a lot of adjacent genres that come under the American roots umbrella. We’ll mix in elements of old-time, early country, early jazz, and western swing, but we like to always apply bluegrass sensibilities to our live performances, so the focus remains very much on the passing of solo breaks amongst the band members.”
The band, which, in addition to Errington, consists of Tim Leslie (guitar/banjo/vocals), Mark Hand (mandolin/vocals), Alex Riach (fiddle/vocals), Conal McIntosh (bass/vocals), and James Wright (banjo/vocals), consists entirely of working musicians involved in several different projects. “The thing that brings us together musically is our love for the music that forms our foundations, rather than spending a lot of time in rehearsals together,” Errington explains. “The live sound is pretty rowdy and a little rough around the edges, but full of energy. We like to play for dancers. Being in the studio to make Made It All Up was an interesting departure from this, as we got to delve a bit deeper into the writing process. It was great opportunity to explore some of our more emotionally driven songs.”
Errington added that although the band calls Edinburgh its musical home, all but one of the members come from elsewhere. “The Leith area of Edinburgh is where the band members first started out playing our first gigs and sessions,” Errington says. “Leith is an area of the city that is a real cultural melting pot ,and there’s a lot of creativity there. Mousetrap Rag, the first track on the record, is a homage to the Mousetrap bar, which was our first residency. We used to play every Thursday night in that pub and there was a lot of fun had there. That was where it all started really.”
He went on to say that it was Leslie, originally from Philadelphia, who put the band together. “Tim found himself for the first time in Edinburgh back in 2018,” Errington recalled. “He met with Mark, Alex, and James, who were members of a Dundee band called Wire and Wool, known in Dundee for playing American roots music. Tim also met me. At the time, I was playing old-time folk music in Auld Reekie String Band, and soon after, Tim joined us on fiddle. Conal and I were playing together in a local folk fusion outfit, Baba Yaga, and later, Conal also got involved with Sociograss on double bass.”
He says that it made for a perfect fit.
“Although blugrass might be quite widely enjoyed here in Scotland, with the proliferation of Celtic trad music, it’s still fairly unusual to meet instrumentalists that really specialize in American styles. So when you meet people like that you tend to stick together.”
According to Errington, the band claims a wide array of different influences. “Some that are unifying would be Del McCoury and his band, who for us are number one when it comes to vocal style,” he continued. “John Reischman and his tunes have been another. Our songwriting has been inspired by country players like John Prine a fair bit, and for me in particular, the big influences to my style have been Bruce Molsky of the old time tradition, as well as the stylings of Darol Anger — particularly his playing on the records of Joe K. Walsh. Another major influence, although a bit of a departure from bluegrass, is The Band. When we were in the final stages of producing Made It All Up, the Band’s brown album was a big influence on the tone we were seeking to achieve.”
Errington added that they’ve been very lucky to have gigged quite frequently throughout Scotland and the UK. “We have a really good music festival scene here in Scotland, and from May to September, there’s a festival happening here near enough every week,” he said. “There’s a really strong community of people that go to these festivals, and you get to see a lot of the same friendly faces at multiple places in the year. We’ve been fortunate to have been involved with playing at a lot of these festivals. Some of the festivals we’ve had the pleasure to play have been Eden, Kelburn, and Knockengorroch World Ceilidh to name but a few. We’re very much at home playing festivals, and we love a good knees-up, so we’ll be getting involved with as many as possible when the next season comes around!”
They’ve also managed to extend their efforts well beyond their local realms. “Back in 2022, we were invited to play away in Poland for the second time,” Errington explains. “We were booked to play at the Vertigo Summer Blues Festival, and so we tied that in with a few other gigs in towns in the area and then had a little Poland tour. It was an absolutely unforgettable experience. The response from the audiences out there was amazing, and we hope very much to be back again soon! We’re now making plans for further European touring next summer.”
They’ve also had the opportunity to play with other artists as well.
“Over the years, we’ve had a lot of amazing musical experiences with a lot of very talented musicians,” Errington says. “It’s a fairly close-knit community, the American roots music community here in Scotland, and it’s a small enough country, so you get to know the people that have musical interests in common with you quite quickly. Shoutouts to our Americana colleagues based here in Scotland — Rain of Animals, Wayward Jane, Good Guy Hank, Auld Reekie String Band, and the Fountaineers to name just a few.”
Errington says that at the moment, they’re very excited to be sharing their debut album with the world. “The title of the album, as well as being the title of one of the tracks, is also a reflection on how we started out as a band in a place where the bluegrass genre, and more broadly American roots music, is still fairly niche and not widely played live. As such we had to ‘make it all up’ as we went along.”
“When we’re planning for the studio and for bigger live gigs, we mainly focus on our original material and our more original arrangements of traditional tunes,” Errington continues. “That’s where we find our most unique and authentic sound. A big part of our life as a band together are the pub jam sessions, and we have done a lot of hosting of jams over the years. At those times, we do a lot of covering of other people’s music, but I think that the Sociograss trademark sound still manages to cut through even when playing covers.”
He also answers enthusiastically when asked how the band’s music has been received by the audiences back home. “It’s been great,” he replies. “We’ve managed to keep a fruitful gigging career going over quite a few years now, and that’s a testament to the timeless nature of the music we love and the obvious appeal it has to folks at large. We’ve been so lucky to have such a supportive community of music lovers around us in Scotland, and we want to say a massive thank you to all of the friends that have come to our gigs, joined in at our sessions and supported the band as we’ve grown. We couldn’t have done it without you!”
In that regard, Errington mentions that in their country at least, there’s a clear reason why bluegrass could claim a popular following.
“I think that in the context of Scotland, people can feel the link between our traditional music and the music in Appalachia,” he maintains. “Although some people might not have learned the history behind the migration of Scottish and Irish traditional music to America, they can still sense that there is a commonality, and an emotional and thematic concurrence. A lot of the storytelling in the lyrics is the same and it transcends cultural barriers. We also have a massive culture around jam sessions here in Scotland and this is, of course, shared by the bluegrass community around the world. Bluegrass really promotes musical collaboration, and I think that inclusivity and accessibility are a massive part of why it has such widespread appeal.”
You can follow Sociograss on Facebook, Instagram, and Bandcamp, where you can slabs hear and purchase the new album.
