Abby Hollander Archives - Bluegrass Today

Mary Ann from The Abby Hollander Band

New York City has earned its reputation as the entertainment capitol of the world, though it doesn’t have that same status on the bluegrass beat. But that hasn’t slowed the efforts of Abby Hollander, bassist/vocalist and leader of The Abby Hollander Band, who earn their bones in the city from a home base in Brooklyn.

We haven’t heard much from them since their debut album in 2015, but it turns out that they have been hard at work during the quarantine shutdowns recording a second, Letters, which is set for release early in March.

A first single, one called Mary Ann, is available now and Abby has agreed to share it with Bluegrass Today readers as a tease for the album’s release on March 4.

She tells us that this song is bittersweet for her to sing.

“Mary Ann means a lot to me; my brother, NYC banjo player Jonah Bruno, wrote it as a tribute to our late aunt. Singing about someone dear to you is the best way I know of to keep a memory alive, and this band really helped me make it special.”

Abby is supported by Ellery Marshall on banjo, Jacob Tilove on mandolin, and Jason Borisoff on guitar. Julian Pinelli served as guest fiddler on the record. But the focus of their music is Hollander’s pure and plaintive voice, perfectly suited to this song.

Enjoy…

Mary Ann is available now from the group’s bandcamp site, where pre-orders for the full album can also be placed.

Mary Ann video from Abby Hollander

New York bluegrass singer/songwriter Abby Hollander has released a live video of she and her band performing at the Rockwood Music Hall in lower Manhattan earlier this week.

It’s their arrangement of Mary Ann – not the classic Jimmy Martin song, but one of Abby’s brother Jonah Bruno’s recent compositions. She says that it’s written about their late aunt.

Abby Hollander Band

The Abby Hollander Band is a bluegrass outfit based in Brooklyn, NY. Yes… they have them there.

Abby plays bass, sings lead, and writes most of the band’s material. She’s gone the opposite route of many New York musicians, moving from her native Woodstock to the Big Apple to start a bluegrass career. There she has assembled a trio with Ellery Marshall, a Los Angelean, on banjo, and Jeff Picker from Portland, on guitar.

Together they released a self-titled debut project earlier this year, with Duncan Wickel on fiddle and Chris Maloy on guitar. Five of the eight tracks are Abby’s, performed in a straight ahead bluegrass or swing style, and delivered with Hollander’s clear and convincing voice. As you might expect, she sings without the sort of southern or rural accent that is common in much popular bluegrass and, to her credit, there is no attempt to affect that sound.

Her original compositions follow themes prevalent in contemporary bluegrass, but songs about home here discuss New York as in Green Highway Home, or Darlin’ City, a paean to their New York City home. Builder And The Breaker is a mid-tempo waltz that tells of lovers who seem to occupy opposite spaces on every continuum. Another waltz, Rising Water Line, follows the familiar disaster/tragedy number format, while Loneliness Here gets a bluegrass vibe for this eternal story of a lonely lover left at home to await the other’s return.

Abby includes a couple of bluegrass classics, the ever-popular Drivin’ Nails In My Coffin, which gets a fine, uptempo treatment with a solid push from Marshall and Wickel, and Let The Whole World Talk, a cajun song from JD Miller famously recorded as bluegrass by The Johnson Mountain Boys in 1987. The latter is perhaps the strongest vocal performance on this record, and shows Hollander to be an expressive and agile interpreter of a melody.

In truth, all the singing is first rate, often presented without harmony or with Abby way out front. Her voice is strong, but sensitive – a tough task to accomplish – with a wide range and a lovely tonal character. To call it simple sounds like a knock, but her voice has a purity and a plaintive quality that is very appealing, and suits her original songs and the others she has chosen to present here perfectly.

These tracks were recorded in the same manner as the band generally performs live, absent a mandolin, and sometimes as a trio without fiddle. Unpretentious might be a good description for this first effort from The Abby Hollander Band. Just good songs, minus complicated arrangements or look-at-me solos, dispensed with the most agreeable voice of this promising young artist.

This one’s a keeper. Keep an eye on the Abby Hollander Band.

Introducing the Abby Hollander Band

Abby Hollander is a gifted bluegrass singer and songwriter from Woodstock, NY who has recently formed her own band in Brooklyn, and started work on a debut recording. The Abby Hollander Band performs a mix of standards and Abby’s distinctive original material.

While working the New York scene, the band also has a west coast vibe. Banjo player Ellery Marshall is a Los Angeles native, and guitarist Jeff Picker and bassist Dave Speranza hail from Portland, OR.

Here’s a video of one of the songs from their upcoming album, Darlin’ City, shot live in California.

There are additional videos of Abby and the boys on YouTube, and several audio files on the band web site.