Organic Records, an imprint of the Crossroads Music group in North Carolina, has signed San Francisco’s Front Country to the label. Their second album, Other Love Songs, has been announced as an Organic release scheduled for April.
Front Country is an adventurous modern bluegrass group that is centered on the singing and songwriting of Melody Walker. The band formed initially as a group of friends who got together to jam, with Jacob Groopman on guitar, Adam Roszkiewicz on mandolin, Leif Karlstrom on fiddle, and Jeremy Darrow on bass. Bluegrass fans will remember them from knockout performances at the IBMA’s World of Bluegrass convention as an invited showcase act.
They use the format of the traditional bluegrass format, sans banjo, to perform music based around Melody’s powerful voice and dynamic stage persona, but no one would mistake it for the music of the bluegrass pioneers, even when they cover some of that classic material. It’s a youthful and aggressive sound, and they have found a ready audience all across the US through near constant touring.
Here’s a live video of Front Country doing the title track of their debut album, Sake Of The Sound, at a festival in France last year.
Organic Records was developed by the folks at Crossroads specifically for artists whose music doesn’t fit into defined industry categories so as to satisfy their promotional and marketing needs.
In a statement from the band, Front Country acknowledges that they’ve made the right choice.
“We are elated to partner with Organic Records to release our next record. It’s a rare thing to find people in the music industry who want to develop music that doesn’t fit the mold. It’s even rarer that those people share your vision for the future of acoustic music and the music business, and have a holistic, hands-on approach to helping their artists build an authentic and sustainable career. We are excited to begin what we hope will be a long and fruitful collaboration.”
Look for Other Love Songs, produced by Wes Corbett, to hit on April 7.
