Pittsburgh’s Buffalo Rose is emblematic of the new generation of urban artists who have been attracted to bluegrass music. While they embrace the acoustic instruments and high level of technical proficiency required to play it, they have also been exposed to many other types of popular music, and let those influences show in what they do with the grass.
Working this past four years in and around the Steel City, Buffalo Rose has had the chance to open for top progressive bluegrass acts like The Infamous Stringdusters, and have released a pair of albums of their own. But for the third, Borrowed & Blue, they have made a gutsy call. They not only recorded live, but around a single microphone. Anyone who has tried recording live knows how that process exposes imperfections, and doing so with a lone microphone requires tremendous preparation and careful attention to your performance within the band setting.
But this young sextet is up to the task, and have subtitled the new project Live Around One Microphone. It is scheduled for a May 29 release.
The band also exemplifies the way that young musicians come to bluegrass from different musical disciplines. The six members have previous experience in genres as far flung as folk and punk, but came together through a love of the purity and natural beauty of acoustic bluegrass. Bryce Rabideau in on mandolin, Shane McLaughlin on guitar, Malcolm Inglis on reso-guitar, Jason Rafalak on bass, and Lucy Clabby and Rosanna Spindler on vocals.
With the album only a few weeks away, Buffalo Rose has produced a number of videos that highlights the music from the CD. And they have agreed to share a pair of them with our readers which mark the theme of the record, a mix of pop music covers and original material, hence Borrowed & Blue.
First off is the debut single, a mash up of Seven Nation Army by White Stripes with Sweet Dreams from The Eurhythmics. That may sound like a stretch for an acoustic string band, but check it out.
And now for a band original, The Journey.
Borrowed & Blue: Live Around One Microphone is available for pre-order and pre-save now. The single is offered now wherever you stream and download music online.
