Trout Steak Revival Archives

The Light We Bring – Trout Steak Revival

Colorado string band Trout Steak Revival has never faltered when it comes to their musical progression, or their efforts to advance their melodic intents. With their fifth studio album, The Light We Bring, they live up to the title’s illuminating promise through a combination of rousing, rollicking anthems, quiet, contemplative rumination, and delicate yet decisive instrumental interplay. Having opted to self produce the new album themselves, they show that their camaraderie and cohesion are put to the same purpose, ensuring that this set of songs has the potential to reach the wider audience that they’re well entitled to serve.

The evidence is everywhere, from the celebratory set up of the album opener, Through the Pines, with its tuneful echoes of Bruce Springsteen’s Hungry Heart, the emphatic Arrows in the Dark, and the teeming sense of triumph with Johnny’s Dirge. They use quieter designs with The Way It Moves and Only a Moment, a pair of reflective ballads that put the hushed vocals of fiddler Bevin Foley firmly at the fore. The ingenious arrangements, stirred slightly with occasional additives of brass, flute, violin, and cello, provide the music with supple twists and turns, expanding the stylistic terrain and adding a decided depth to the effort overall.

Songs such as The Heart Wants, Home and Loretta are thoroughly compelling, and yet they keep the musical balance in check. At the same time, they give the individual members of the band — Foley, Steve Doltz (guitar, mandolin), Casey Houlihan (bass), William Koster (dobro, guitar), and Travis McNamara’(banjo, piano, Wurlitzer) — ample opportunity to add instrumental input to the collective combination.

It’s easy to see that Trout Steak Revival is quickly blazing a name for themselves in today’s newgrass/grassicana realms thanks to a blend of several homegrown idioms. Care and sentiment are delicately stirred into this richly textured tapestry, allowing this music to make a quick connection and bring all its elements to the fore. Trout Steak Revival is clearly capable of creating a sense of celebration at a time when we need it the most.

Trout Steak Revival brings their Colorado sound to IBMA

I was lucky to catch a set by Colorado-based and Telluride Bluegrass Festival Band Competition winners, Trout Steak Revival, at the Raleigh Convention Center Masters Workshop Stage. The band writes all their material and are working on their sixth album. They have a sound that moves from hard-driving to a more mellow layered sound, which includes the bluegrass full-stack of guitar, mandolin, fiddle, dobro, bass, and fiddle. The songs are well-produced, not necessarily in the strict bluegrass style, but they have a strong, pleasing groove with very rich harmonies throughout.

They wrote the soundtrack for the Rocky Mountain PBS Documentary, Great Ingredients, and provide collaboration and mentoring with school children in Denver and Steamboat Springs. You can purchase all of their releases and merch at their online webstore.

Here is a sweet video of their song Take Heart from their Spirit to the Sea release.

Click below to hear the group talk about their upcoming album and the experience of producing it themselves.

Friday at Grey Fox 2016

Friday of Grey Fox 2016 was jam packed full of a wide variety of traditional and progressive bluegrass and related musics, legends, and new faces and sounds. Whether one wanted to see names that they had known and followed for years or be exposed to new music and people, plenty of options abounded all day at the many stages big and small. There were large stages for watching, places to dance, workshops, jam sessions, kids busking around the campground, and loads of smiles and good times.

Without further ado, I will let you see and hear for yourself just a small taste of the fun.

Ruby – O’Connor Family Band

Red Rocking Chair – Mike Compton and Joe Newberry

Greasy Coat – Charm City Junction

Walkin’ Boss – David Grisman Bluegrass Experience

Trout Steak Revival

Left In This World Alone – Del McCoury Band with Cole Quest

Fiddlin’ Around – Mark & Maggie O’Connor

Train On The Island – Charm City Junction

I’m My Own Grandpa – David Grisman & Del McCoury

Brighter Every Day – Trout Steak Revival

One of the most recent groups from the western bluegrass world to begin gaining national recognition is Trout Steak Revival, a Denver-based band that also won the 2014 band competition at the Telluride Bluegrass Festival. The five-piece group has been playing together for several years, releasing two self-recorded albums and earning 3^rd place at the RockyGrass band contest prior to their win at Telluride. Their latest album, Brighter Every Day, produced by Infamous Stringduster Chris Pandolfi, adds a more polished and professional sound to their music while retaining the energy, strong harmonies, and interesting lyrics from their earlier efforts.

Brighter Every Day is a completely original album, with all eleven songs attributed to the band. There’s a strong western feel to both the music and the lyrics, with songs like opening track Union Pacific displaying the energetic mixture of old-time, bluegrass, and folk music that the Rocky Mountain bluegrass scene does so well. The song, told from the perspective of a railroad-riding rambler on the west coast, opens with strong old-time banjo from Travis McNamara, who also contributes lead vocals and piano. It’s easily one of the highlights of the album, with a tight, pulsing rhythm and excellent fiddling from Bevin Foley. Another standout is the hopeful title track, which also has its tone set by the intertwining of McNamara’s banjo and vocals and Foley’s fiddle.

Ours for the Taking, written and sung by bassist Casey Houlihan, is an enjoyable, loping ode to settling down with the one you love. Love also comes up in the grassy Pie, a humorous toe-tapping number about guitar and dobro player Will Koster’s deep love of “hot and cold, nine days old” pie. Another reoccurring theme is road trips, including a dip in the Colorado River as a break from a late summer drive, and a memorable trek across the Midwest in Oklahoma sung by mandolin player Steve Foltz.

Wind on the Mountain is darker and quicker than most of the rest of the album, telling the story of the time McNamara got caught in a snowstorm while hiking in Colorado and allowing the banjo to veer into a frenzied, more progressive style. Go On also leans in a different direction from the bulk of the songs, featuring Foley’s bluesy, swingy vocals on a number about kicking out a no good man.

Most of the songs here are heartfelt and hopeful, capturing memories and moments in time that obviously meant something to the band members. However, unlike many bands with a similar sound and background, these lyrics aren’t so vague that listeners can’t also relate to the feelings and events they tell about. The songs have a bright, cohesive sound, and all the band members seem to be fine musicians, with Foley’s fiddling a highlight on many of the tracks. Fans of the “Telluride” sound shouldn’t miss this one.

For more information on Trout Steak Revival, visit their website at www.troutsteak.com. Their new album can be purchased from a variety of online music retailers.