Liam Purcell on fiddle with The Castellows in Amsterdam
When award-winning multi-instrumentalist, singer, and songwriter Liam Purcell isn’t leading his own popular bluegrass group, Cane Mill Road, he has been touring this summer with The Castellows, including an overseas trip to Europe and the UK.
The Castellows are a country sister act with some bluegrass undertones, three siblings from Georgia who hit it big first on social media as teenagers. That large online following was built with videos of the three girls, Ellie, Powell, and Lily Balkcom, singing together on the cattle farm where they were raised. At first the videos were quite simple, the girls typically singing in unison, with Ellie on guitar on Powell on banjo. But eventually Lily became the primary lead singer, with her sisters harmonizing as they played.
It hasn’t hurt that they are attractive and engaging young women, and soon they were performing around home. Warner Brothers came calling and signed the Balkcom sisters to their first record contract, releasing a debut EP, A Little Goes a Long Way, in February of 2024. It landed at #48 on BIllboard’s new album chart, with very good streaming numbers this past two years. New music began dropping earlier this year, with two new singles, Love Is A Game and Heartland, hitting the market.
Here’s where their story takes a bluegrass turn. The Castellows were booked for a European tour, supporting Luke Combs and Thomas Rhett when they arrived in central North Carolina to play MerleFest this spring. A connection Liam Purcell had with the Balkcom’s management led to some discussions with the girls, resulting in him taking the gig as their auxiliary musician on tour.
Purcell grew up just a short distance from Doc Watson, and is local to the MerleFest region, and got a call.
Let’s let Liam share the story…
“Our former sound guy, Alex Naismith, cut his teeth running with us in Cane Mill Road, and stayed with us for about three years. Now he is The Castellows tour manager, and it turned out they were changing some things around in the band when they came for MerleFest. I got to show them around while they were here as Alex and I saw each other some.
About a week later they called and said we need someone to play fiddle – playing 1/3 fiddle, some dobro and steel, and some mandolin. They described it from the start as an auxiliary musician.”
For those not fully briefed on country band lingo, an auxiliary musician is one who can play multiple instruments, and these days it usually allows artists to have a fiddle for a selection of songs, and add in other instruments as needed as well.
Once he accepted the gig, Liam flew over to meet the band in Europe, and played some legendary venues as a member of The Catellows band.
“We were on tour with Luke Combs and Thomas Rhett. Their auxiliary guys come out of bluegrass as well.
We played ten of Luke Combs’ shows, with dates in Sweden, two nights in Amsterdam, Edinburgh, and three nights at Wembley Stadium in England. All set attendance records. Plus we had some headline shows with The Castellows in smaller venues.
I’ve been using pickups and wireless packs so I’m free to go down the catwalk and across the stage.”
So is Liam Purcell lost to us in the bluegrass world? Not a chance he says.
“Of course I’ll always be in bluegrass. That’s where my heart will always be. But this has taught me a lot, especially on such a large scale.
Cane Mill Road still has a really busy schedule the rest of the year.
The girls all love bluegrass and we jam some on the road. They grew up around it, and all know the Doc Watson catalog really well.”
Purcell chuckled and noted that the new gig interfered slightly with some of his plans.
“It’s funny for me because, it’s been a lifelong goal to move back to Boone, which I did in February, and now I get a Nashville gig.”
But no complaints from this young grasser, who is still in his early twenties, just like the Castellow sisters.
“I’m loving it! I feel super lucky.”
Congratulations to Liam Purcell on landing this gig, and to The Castellows for getting such a solid auxiliary man!
