Cane Mill Road has announced the addition of Hudson Bosworth to the band on bass. He steps in for Eliot Smith, who has left to attend luthiery school in Boston.
Bosworth is currently a student in the bluegrass music program at East Tennessee State University. Before starting college, he won the state championship for both flatpicking guitar and mandolin in his native Utah.
The group is noted for its youth, and Hudson takes over as the oldest member, at 20 years old. He joins founders Liam Purcell on mandolin, Casey Lewis on guitar, and his fellow ETSU student Trey Wellington on banjo. Liam is the youngest at 16, and he manages the band in between his studies. Trey is 19 and Casey 20.
Purcell tells us that the group sees a great deal of growth potential with this new lineup.
“Hudson brings not only solid bass playing to the band, but a third voice to allow us to add three-part harmony to our shows. We’ve had a great two-part harmony with me and Casey, but this opens up a whole new world for us.
We had six amazing people apply for the open position. We did phone interviews and then brought three in for auditions. They were all such good players and singers that we couldn’t make a decision, so we had to bring all three back in for a second round of auditions a week later.”
Before knowing that Bosworth would get the gig, or much about where he was from, Cane Mill Road booked three days at the Ogden Music Festival, which takes place in Hudson’s hometown of Ogden, UT. What a fine homecoming that will be.
Once school is out for the summer, the band has a very ambitious summer tour set. They expect to do 100 shows in 2019, including major festivals like MerleFest, Grey Fox, and FloydFest, plus Wide Open Bluegrass near their home base in North Carolina in September.
Bosworth was able to be on set for a taping of David Holt’s State of Music program on PBS with Cane Mill Road, which should air sometime this fall.
He says that he is psyched for this opportunity.
“I’m very excited to be working with such amazing and professional musicians in Cane Mill Road.”
Look for a third recorded project from Cane Mill Road, a live album, sometime this spring.
