Colorado has often been the source for new sounds in the bluegrass world. Who can forget the impact of Hot Rize when they burst upon the scene in 1979, or Front Range in the ’90s. More recently The Railsplitters have been making some noise on the progressive edges of the music, and now Thunder & Rain is making their pitch to be included in this discussion.
The band is based around the songs and the singing of Erinn Pete-Lukes who, like so many others, made her way to Colorado from her native California through Seattle. Oddly enough, she discovered bluegrass while studying abroad in Italy and she’s found it to be the perfect vehicle for her clever compositions.
Thunder & Rain got its start as an acoustic duo with mandolinist Pete Weber, but has now grown into a quartet with Ian Haegele on bass and Chris Herbst on reso-guitar. Their sound is unique, largely based on Erinn’s voice, but well within the subset of young groups interpreting modern pop music through a bluegrass/acoustic lens.
Speaking about their latest video, Run With You, created by filmmakers Mara Whitehead and Raleigh Gambino, who also recently did the Gravity video for Infamous Stringdusters, the band tells us…
“This track is the title track off the EP we released last fall, and it is our first step into bluegrass, rock and pop fusion. Run With You is, at its heart, a country love song about running away, set against a background of an epic build and authentic bluegrass instruments. This song set the template for us to record a whole record of songs like Run With You, and helped us define our sound as an up-and-coming acoustic band.”
The band is currently recording for a new release set for September. You can keep up with their comings and goings online.
