Mile Twelve is showing the can do attitude that has marked their rapid rise in the bluegrass world in the face of the shutdown early this year. With much of their touring cancelled for the next few months, they remain optimistic for the future, and are spending the down time recording a new EP.
Titled Roll The Tapes All Night Long, it will feature six new covers they have chosen from their own list of faves, set to release on May 29.
Fiddler Bronwyn Keith-Hynes says that it was inspired by the band’s dedication to doing it their own way.
“Mile Twelve has always been a DIY entity. We jokingly refer to ourselves as bluegrass punks, because while many of our peers have signed to labels, we’ve remained independent. This means that when we get inspired, we have the ability to record and release songs quickly. We had some free time this winter so we thought, why not do something a little different? Let’s record a bunch of deep catalogue cover songs we’ve been digging, and get some of our favorite artists out there to be a part of it. The final product is totally cooking, and we can’t wait for our fans to get a taste.”
A first soupçon is available today, with a debut single from the EP, a remake of a Joe Val classic, Cold Wind, recorded with alt-grass superstar, Billy Strings.
Bronwyn says that the band loves this song, and were psyched to record with Billy.
“Billy is one of our favorite young musicians in the scene right now. We love how he combines traditional bluegrass with forays into the jam band and songwriting worlds, and we were stoked he was down to record this song with us. And without Yankee bluegrass pioneers like Joe Val, there would have been no audience for Mile Twelve when we were starting out, so it was really important to us to record one of his tunes on there.”
They laid down a rapid take, literally at ramming speed, which Keith-Hynes says had them all stretched to their limits.
“It just kept getting faster in the studio… at one point Billy said, ‘yeah I can’t actually play this fast, but it’s fun to try,’ and he was doing better than I was!”
In addition to Bronwyn on fiddle and Billy on lead guitar, the track features Mile Twelvers Evan Murphy on guitar, David Benedict on mandolin, BB Bowness on banjo, and Nate Sabat on bass. Evan and Billy trade off the lead vocals.
Cold Wind is available now as a single wherever you stream or download music online.
